THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The believers will now have to be careful about the payasam tin they buy because it might pack explosive power in it. Mr Swadesh Talwar, a Chandigarh-based veteran photo journalist, had a shocking experience in this respect.
The aravana payasam tin bought by him from the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here paying Rs 60 on October 13 exploded in the house of his daughter in Bangalore on Tuesday raising serious concerns about the ‘payasam’ sold in the temple.
As per the stamp found on the can, the prasadam was packed on October 6. On Tuesday morning, Mr Talwar’s daughter took the can and placed it on a table.
But before she could remove the seal, the can exploded with a bang. The lid blew off and hit the roof creating panic in the house.
“The can has no expiry date, no details of the ingredients and no instructions about storage. Many people might have faced similar experiences. I just wanted to bring the issue to the notice of the temple authorities and food safety officials so that some remedial measures can be taken to avoid such incidents in future. Imagine if you are carrying the can in a plane and it explodes. You will be in trouble for sure,” Mr Talwar told DC over phone.
Till date, the food safety authorities haven’t checked the quality of raw materials used for making the prasadam at Padmanabhaswamy temple.
A top official of the temple administration told DC that similar incidents had occurred in the past and that they had taken appropriate measures to fix the issue.
“This happens because of excess air inside the tin. A couple of incidents have occurred in the past. But we have rectified the flaw,” claimed the official.
A top official of the Commissionerate of Food Safety said that there were clear directions to check the raw materials used by all temples for preparing ‘prasadam.’
“We check the payasam sold at Sabarimala temple on the strength of a High Court order. Otherwise, it was not possible for officials to carry out inspections at temples or other religious places,” said the official.
