Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, Jun 3, 2015 :

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s visit to Odisha for second time on Friday is likely to run into trouble with organizations like Kalinga Sena and Odisha Surakshya Sena deciding to protest for his endorsement of Maggi Noodles, currently under the scanner for its lead content in excess of permissible limits.“The activists of Kalinga Sena would stage a demonstration against Amitavh Bachchan from the Biju Patnaik International Airport to the venue in the city where he is scheduled to inaugurate a showroom,” founder president of Kalinga Sena, Hemant Rath said.

Rath also made it clear that his organization would not let the Bollywood star promote any product in Odisha till he tenders an apology for having endorsed Maggi noodles.

Similarly, Abhishek Joshi, president, Odisha Surakhya Sena has called for like-minded people to join the protest against the mega star’s visit to Odisha to inaugurate Kalyan Jewellers’s showroom at Sahid Nagar here. He is the brand ambassador of Kalyan Jewellers and will be accompanied by Telugu superstar Nagarjuna.

“Can we muster-courage to give a wakeup call against mandarins like Amitabh Bachhan and punish him by lodging an F.I.R against him or conducting a protest march outside Kalayan Jewellers in BBSR or protest against his entry in Bhuabenswar on 5th June,2015 for fixing Indian people to eat Maggie through his deep baritone appeal known as voice of India? If yes, lets come to BBSR on 5th June and show Amitabh that Odisha is potent enough to force him to bite the bullets for his wrong doing so that not ‘Kabhi…kabhi hamesha unke dilmein yeh khayal atarahe ke Mein Odisha galti se bhi kabhi na jaun’, Joshi writes to a social network website.

Joshi makes it very clear that presence of MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) in Nestle “Maggie” has pressed panic buttons among million of Indian families. “It has been proved that quantities of the poisonous substances are found beyond permissible limits”, he remarks.
“When celebrities in the stature of Amitabh Bachhan, Madhuri Dixit and Priyanka Chopra are endorsing products like Nestle “Maggie” then automatically the curiosity of people to detect harmful residues in Maggie gets bamboozled. It’s because people have willfully mortgaged their sense of probing to the star-power of these celebrities. Rajiv Dixit through his videos had sensitized people on the ill effects of Maggie but unfortunately in the star struck India he couldn’t find many buyer for his argument and he died unsung”, he laments.

The 72-year-old actor Amitabh, against whom a Muzzafarpur court has ordered registration of an FIR for endorsing Maggi, said he will cooperate with “what the law says” though he hasn’t received any notice in connection with the product that he “stopped promoting” two years ago.

“I need to add that I stopped endorsing Maggi two years back. I do not endorse it anymore. I have not been related to the product anymore,” he clarified.

The iconic actor’s name has been dragged into the controversy with current brand ambassador Madhuri Dixit and former face Preity Zinta.

A case has been registered against Nestle India in a court in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh by regulator FSDA (Food Safety and Drug Administration), after it discovered monosodium glutamate or MSG and lead in excess of the prescribed limit in Maggi samples they examined.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government on Wednesday has sent samples of the instant food to an accredited Central laboratory in Pune for test. Health and Family Welfare secretary Arati Ahuja said the state government has sent the Maggi noodles samples to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) accredited Central Food Laboratory at Pune for test.

“The Health department has collected 25 Maggi noodles samples from 14 districts and sent it to the Central Food Laboratory at Pune for test. On the basis of the test report, the department will take appropriate action,” she said.

It may be noted that Kerala has already banned the sale of Maggi Noodles while Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are awaiting the reports of the tests before initiating action against the product.