There is growing concern among residents about the increasing fast-food culture in the fast-paced lifestyle of the city. With an ever-increasing population finding it quite unaffordable to dine at restaurants or hotels, the city has been a witness to a spurt in roadside and mobile eateries during the past few years. Though these eateries that are found in every nook and cranny of the city provide affordable food, the hygiene factor remains a questionable thing to the customers.
M.S. Vaidyanathan, a resident of New Colony, Chromepet, in a post on Friends of Chennai (FOC) brings to focus the health and hygiene issues involved in these roadside eateries. The senior citizen, who has been visiting several places in the city, said these mobile eateries having hygiene as the last priority prepare food items in highly polluted, open spaces and serve them in poorly cleaned plastic plates.
In another post on the FOC website, Puneet Gupta, a resident of Kasturi Ranga Road, Teynampet, complained about roadside eateries causing nuisance to residents and messing up pavements by dumping food waste. The writer is upset that despite sending a complaint to the Chennai Corporation, no steps have been taken to remove them.
Concerned citizens have been appealing to the civic body highlighting the growing number of mobile and roadside eateries that seem to be operating with no trader’s licence or any food safety mechanisms.
A senior police official in Vepery citing the numerous mobile eateries operating right behind Ripon Building, the headquarters of Chennai Corporation, wanted to know why the civic authorities have turned a blind eye to these unauthorised ‘kai-yendhi bhavans’.
In a Right to Information filed by The Hindu about the licensing and food quality check of mobile eateries, the civic body has said these mobile eateries are not ‘licensed’ to operate, but remain silent about closing these illegal eateries.
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