Sanjay Raut alleges FDA extortion, says bribe rates have hiked; demands probe

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday alleged that officials of Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are threatening hotels, restaurants and quick-commerce businesses with licence suspension and allegedly extorting money from them.Raut said the law requires inspection notices, a 15-day compliance period, improvement notices and a hearing before the licence is suspended. (PTI)He also alleged that bribe rates for “closing notices” have increased from ₹12,000 to ₹75,000 and even up to ₹2 lakh since FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe’s appointment, as people fear strict action.In a letter, Raut said that FDA-designated officers, assistant commissioners and food safety officers were misusing their powers and blackmailing business establishments. Raut said several businessmen from Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pune, Solapur, Wardha and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar approached him with complaints regarding closing notices.Raut alleged that a pair of FDA-designated officers in Thane collected ₹17-18 lakh from a quick-commerce company for restoring a suspended licence. He also said that some licences were suspended based on social media posts alleging the presence of rats, but officials did not find rats during inspections.Also Read:Rats, cockroaches and flies: FDA suspends Swiggy, Amazon warehouse licences over infestationsRaut said the law requires inspection notices, a 15-day compliance period, improvement notices and a hearing before the licence is suspended. He alleged that bypassing this procedure and directly threatening suspension amounted to misuse of authority and extortion.Raut demanded an independent inquiry into closing-notice rates and licence restoration cases, mandatory verification of customer complaints, disciplinary action against officials bypassing due process, and a separate probe into the alleged ₹17-18 lakh collection in Thane.