Unlicensed shops thrive on RG Street

Coimbatore: Range Gowda Street, one of the busiest market streets in the city, has been found accommodating the most number of unlicensed commercial establishments selling edible commodities.

Of the 450 shops on the street located near Town Hall in South Coimbatore, less than 30 have the mandatory food business licenses, according to government records.

Due to this, the district food safety department is planning to launch a special campaign this week to increase the licence registration rate.

Licence was made mandatory for all food business concerns by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in 2011. Though August 2011 was set as the initial deadline for commercial establishments to adhere to the norm, it was extended several times in the last six years.

According to recent government data, of the 8,500 food outlets in Coimbatore district, only about 3,000 have obtained food business licenses from the food safety department. The rest continue to operate without licenses. This included 400 odd shops on RG Street, which sell perishable items like foodgrains, chocolates, fruits and grocery.

"Even though there has been an increase in the number of manufacturers approaching us for licences of late, many wholesale and retail sellers were still not aware about the importance of obtaining the licence," a district food safety department official said.

Subsequently, the authorities started to study the reason for the low registration rate and found that traders faced several difficulties in applying for the licenses. The application procedure was made online in 2013.Open Free Demat A/C Online - Zero Account Opening ChargesMotilal Oswal 

R Murali, a trader on RG Street, said that though there was an option to send the required documents by registered post, some of the forms (Form B) to be attached with the application form are available only online. "It takes at least half-an-hour to scan and upload other documents such as identity proofs, besides paying the requisite fee to the treasury," he told TOI.

Inspired by the considerable success recorded by Salem in this aspect, the Coimbatore district food safety and drug control department is planning to launch special food business license registration camps across the city from this week. "We have decided to launch it in RG Street, where most of the traders are not even aware that they can not run their shops without a license," said a senior official of the department.

The official also said that they have already held talks with local associations, banks and treasury and that the only challenge was to set up strong network connectivity so that there was no interruption in the application process.

The authorities were optimistic that the figures would cross the 5,000 mark by the end of this year as similar camps would be conducted in different areas across the city in the coming weeks based on the results of the first camp.