BHUBANESWAR: The city can be a veritable gastronome’s paradise. The aroma that one gets of a favourite dish being cooked in every corner of the city is deceptive. The fast food offered by the vendors may just lead to health problems in the long run, thanks to the unhygienic preparations. The number of unlicensed fast food stalls operating in the city outnumber the licensed ones this year. With Durga Puja on the horizon, the number of such stalls in the city is expected to double. However, apart from the routine raids, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not lined up any specific plan to curb sale of unhygienic and stale food, a common practice during the festive days. Reason: For the last three years, there is just one food inspector for the 60-ward City. This inspector has got just one squad comprising 10 BMC personnel, including four non-technical staff, to conduct raids. Still worse, the lone food inspector is in charge of three places. Besides Bhubaneswar, he doubles up to Khurda and the Directorate of Health Services. He has been doing this for the last two months. This apart, in the absence of adequate number of technical staff in the food testing laboratory here, testing of food samples collected from illegal eateries has been stopped for the last couple of months. “Though raids are being conducted, with Bhubaneswar being a large area, the frequency of raids does not suffice to contain sale of unhygienic food,” said Mayor Ananta Kumar Jena. The BMC has been asked to appoint more food inspectors or free the present food inspector of additional charges, he said. City Health Officer Chandrika Prasad Das said, “We have warned vendors against selling sub-standard food and raids will be intensified during the puja to prevent such sales.” The vendors have also been asked to keep the food covered and use clean water for preparation.
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