The government on Thursday ruled out any action against companies marketing bottled drinking water saying they were meeting the standards and the method prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
"The water meets the method and the standard of the BIS and, therefore, there is no question of taking action," Health and Family Welfare Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha while responding to a calling attention motion raised by Naresh Puglia (Cong) and two others in the backdrop of a controversy over reported detection of pesticide residues in bottled water.
The minister's reply prompted Puglia to charge her with misleading the House as he sought to know why the licences of eight plants bottling the water had been cancelled.
Swaraj denied the charge and said the action against the plants had been taken by the food and consumer affairs ministry.
The minister also said there was no question of any "poison" being present in packaged water.
She said samples of packaged drinking water and mineral water analysed as per the BIS method were found to comply with the requirement.
"However, in the study by the Centre for Science and Environment, pesticide residues were found in water because of use of more sensitive testing methodology."
The BIS has now proposed to revise the methods of analysis, which shall be conducted by using internationally established test methods meeting the prescribed residue limits, she said.
Accordingly, a draft notification to amend the standards of packaged drinking water a mineral water has been issued and later necessary amendment would be made in the Act.
The government is 'mum' on the demand for destruction of water bottles already in the market in the interest of public health, Puglia said, adding even fruit juice and cold drinks bottles should be subjected to stringent tests.
Consumer affairs ministry officials said the inspection conducted and ISI mark licences withdrawal were part of an ongoing exercise and action against more bottled water units was likely in the next few days.