Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 27:
All the products of the Kangla Food are safe for health and nature friendly, claimed its proprietor Akhom Birendra.
Speaking to reporters at its factory premises at Nambol Chingmang Phoijing, conveyed that in addition to the Assam State Public Health Laboratory report which said that seven items of the Kangla Food products are safe for health, the Manipur Pollution Control Board, after inspecting its oven, has also declared that the factory is not hazardous to environment.
At present, the Kangla Food is producing 22 different items.
Out of these, the most popular seven items were sent for laboratory test, Birendra said.
Reacting to the press statement of the secretary of the People for Health and Environment Protection that Kangla food products pose health risk as the factory used left over engine oil and kerosene for its kitchen fire, Birendra accepted that it used 25 percent left over engine oil and 75 percent kerosene.
Yet he contended that such fuel mixture is being used in other States and moreover, the oven in Kangla Food factory is fit for combustion of all poisonous elements present in the fuel.
Asserting that production of quality products is a promise of the Kangla Food, Birendra appealed to all NGOs, civil organisations and the people not to discourage entrepreneurs of the State.
Established with just Rs 3 lakhs provided by the Indian Overseas Bank under KVIC's REGP on June 30, 2004, the Kangla Food is now able to produce two tons of food products every day, claimed the proprietor.
A loan of Rs 9.5 lakhs given in 2006 by SBI Paona Bazar branch helped the factory reached its present stage, he added.
With its products being distributed in all the districts of Manipur, the Kangla Food is planning to establish a factory outlet in Guwahati so that its products can be marketed in all the States of the North East, Birendra confided.
To further popularise its products and to facilitate longer storage, a nitrogen filling and sealing machine will be procured at the earliest, he informed.
As for raw materials, the factory has signed agreements with potato and banana farmers of the State.
At present, the Kangla Food is providing employment to 84 people, Birendra added.