QUALITY CONCERNS: A worker cuts through a block of ice at an ice factory in Durgapuram in the city. — Photo: Raju V.

VIJAYAWADA: Ice manufacturing companies are probably one among the few that eagerly wait for summer, as sale of ice picks up instantaneously along with the rising mercury levels. As much as 49,000 kg of ice is consumed every day during summer, and the consumption goes up when temperature peaks or when marriages are scheduled in big numbers.

But the other side of the coin has a different story to tell. Buyers of ice have no clue about the kind of water used in the making of ice blocks, while the authorities of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) do not carry any regular inspection of any of the factories in their limits.

There are five or six major ice factories in the city, with one each at Krishnalanka, Durgapuram, Satyanarayanapuram, Autonagar and two at Kabela. More than 100 retailers sell the ice on roadside, and mostly in unhygienic surroundings.

Shortage of water

Some of the manufacturers say shortage of water supply by the VMC forces them to use groundwater. In addition, power cuts, now and then, delays the formation of ice, they say. Usually, it takes about 48 to 56 hours for manufacturing a block of ice, and sometimes even 75 hours.

A manufacturer incurs an expenditure of about Rs.110, including Rs. 80 towards power tariff, on each block of ice.

These ice factories sell about 40 to 80 blocks every day, with each block weighing around 140 kg and made with 130 litres of water. A block that gets sold for Rs. 150 to Rs. 200 during off-peak season will be sold for Rs. 450 to Rs. 700 when day temperature shoots up. Recently, on a day when a record number of marriages were scheduled, some factories even sold it for Rs. 800.

Notwithstanding the claim of owners of ice factories that they use either the water supplied by the VMC or groundwater, VMC officials are sceptical of the quality of the water used in the making of ice.

The officials admit that there are some black sheep in the ice manufacturing companies. At the time of inspection, manufacturers may use potable water but the same may not be adhered to all through. It is not possible to monitor the same continuously, an official says.

Added to this, there is no laboratory to test the quality of water used in the ice. For this, the VMC authorities have to send the water samples to the regional laboratory at Guntur or to Hyderabad. Even as summer is coming to a close and when the sale of ice was at its peak, VMC officials have not collected any water samples from ice factories.

VMC Chief Medical and Health Officer (in-charge) K. S. Karuna Murthy said on Monday that it would be difficult to store the water sample collected from an ice block for sending to a laboratory for examination. As for inspection, a factory at Christurajapuram was recently inspected and the owner was warned about the unhygienic surroundings in which the ice was being made.

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