Barmer, Jan. 11 -- Seven food safety laboratories constructed at a cost exceeding Rs.20 crore across Rajasthan, including one in Barmer, have remained closed for the past 30 months primarily due to acute shortages of staff and equipment. This has severely delayed the testing of food samples, allowing adulterated products to flood the market unchecked. The lab built in Barmer at a cost of Rs.1.19 crore with an additional Rs.1.80 crore spent on equipment, is lying idle. Food samples from the district are now sent to the overburdened Jodhpur laboratory, where testing delays often stretch to a month or more. Approved in 2020-21, the seven labs are located in Barmer, Pilani, Sikar, Dholpur, Sri Ganganagar, Churu, and Nagaur. Buildings are complete and some equipment has arrived, but operations have not commenced due to pending manpower recruitment and equipment procurement. Dr Vijay Prakash Sharma, joint commissioner of Drug Control, Jaipur, confirmed that the department is facing shortage of staff. He, however maintained that Rajasthan has the highest number of functional laboratories in country. He said, "Labs approved in 2020-21 are ready. Equipment tender required for these labs are in process for 26 items. Manpower recruitment is also underway, and notifications will be issued soon as we are expecting these labs to be functional by June 2026." The government has announced seven more labs for 2025-26, he informed. Rajasthan currently has 11 operational labs, but one in Jalore is closed. Samples from eight districts - including Barmer, Jaisalmer, Pali, Sirohi, and Jodhpur - are routed to the Jodhpur facility, which operates with only 40% staff strength and relies on trainee analysts. Labs in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Bikaner, Bharatpur, Banswara, and Churu face similar staffing issues, leading to routine extensions for report deadlines....