Councillors are of the opinion that eateries near Nehru Stadium and
V.O.C. Park should not be allowed to occupy parking space.
The need to regulate roadside eateries in the city came
up for discussion at the Coimbatore Corporation Council meeting on
Tuesday. The issue was not about the quality of food served at the
eateries. But the way they encroached upon the parking space.
The
opening salvo was by the North Zone Chairman P. Rajkumar, who said that
there was near zero parking space around the Nehru Stadium and near
V.O.C. Park because the owners of the eateries spread out stools on
roads, eating away parking space.
With the police
regulating the parking of vehicles on Nanjappa Road, the city’s
residents were left with little choice but to drive to the area around
the Stadium to park.
Most of the vendors had 10 to
15 stools each and when spread over they occupied space that could
otherwise accommodate two or three cars.
The quality
of food they served needed to be verified if it was good, he said and
also sought attention on the leftovers the eatery owners dump there.
When they shut shop, they dumped food waste in the vicinity. The food so
dumped attracted stray dogs.
The area around the
Stadium and Park had seen an increase in the dog population and that
threatened the elderly to went there for walking and sports persons who
used the stadium around dawn.
Mr. Rajkumar wanted the
Corporation to regulate the shops in such a way that they did not
occupy parking space. A few other Councillors also joined him.
In
doing so the Corporation should keep in mind that those who run the
eateries were people from the lower strata of society and that their
livelihood should not be disturbed, said S. Balan (Ward 62). Whether or
not the eateries served quality food was a different issue. But they
encroached upon the parking space and they needed to be regulated, said
J. Sasirekha (Ward 72).
The issue regarding the
roadside eateries comes after the Corporation initiated a few moves to
regulate their activities. One was earmarking locations for them. The
Corporation with help from the IC Centre for Governance began talking to
the eatery owners by conducting a series of meetings to understand
their concerns. But those proved to be half-hearted measures.
Even
as the Corporation began talking to them, the authorities from the Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) also engaged them to
improve the quality of food.
Sources in FSSAI said
that the department officers had educated a number of roadside eatery
owners on safety practices to be adopted, how to ensure quality in food
and what to avoid. The department had given certificates and licences to
a few.
But with the Union Government extending to
February 2014 the deadline for making registration and license
mandatory, the officer were engaged in conducting awareness programmes.
A.L.
Raja, a CITU leader associated with the food vendors’ association, said
that the allegation against the vendors that they encroached upon
parking space was true to an extent because in their bid to attract more
customers, each vendor place more stools than his competitor.
In the process, the entire stretch was occupied by stools.
The
vendors association, affiliated to the CITU, had taken a few
initiatives in the past for self regulation. It would again do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment