Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday issued a set of bye-laws for roadside food stalls falling under the BMC area of Odisha’s Bhubaneswar. In a letter, the BMC has asked the said outlets to abide by the conditions mentioned in the letter.
It has come to the notice of the BMC that a number of eateries are operating on the roadside without adequate parking and sanitation protocols. Their customers used to park their vehicles on the road and eat there, causing serious sanitary hazards and traffic jams, posing a problem to local people and commuters, the BMC mentioned in the letter and thus issued the conditions to be followed from the commercial establishments.
Here are the conditions:
- No food outlet should be on the road, footpath or over drains.
- Food establishments that do not have sufficient parking space for customers’ cars should not serve food on the premises. They have to choose takeaway or online delivery of their groceries only.
- Food outlets that require parking space must follow BMC sanitation protocols and keep double dustbins in their outlets, store garbage separately and hand it over to a door-to-door collection vehicle, clean 5 meters by themselves radius from its objects.
- Food service workers should wear clean clothing and good clothing, such as head cap, transparent apron, hand gloves and face mask, etc. and serve food in a hygienic manner.
- The food establishment must comply with and guarantee all principles of food safety.
- No food outlet is allowed to operate in places designated as ‘No Vending Zone’ by BMC.
The BMC further said that any deviation from these instructions will be looked into seriously and the BMC will take all measures to impose a fine and close the shop with cancellation of the trade license and seizure of the vehicles parked illegally on the road.