The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday tightened its noose around the street food vendors in the capital city making it mandatory for them to provide parking space to their customers at the vending place.
The civic body has also made up-keeping of sanitation mandatory for food vendors in the city.
Laying down fresh, stricter protocols for roadside food outlets in Bhubaneswar, the BMC wrote, “It has come to the knowledge of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation that a great number of food outlets are doing their business on the road side without having sufficient parking facility and sanitation protocols. Their customers are forced to park their vehicles on the road and eat there causing heavy sanitation hazards and traffic congestion. This is posing problem for the local people and for the commuters.”
The BMC has directed all the roadside food outlets and their vendor's associations to abide by following norms.
1. No food outlet should be on the road, footpath & over drains.
2. Food outlets having no sufficient parking space for vehicles of customers should not serve food items on the spot. They should opt for take-home food or on-line delivery of their food items only.
3. The food outlets having required parking space have to follow the sanitation protocols of BMC and keep twin dustbins in their shops, store garbage in segregated way and handover to door to door collection vehicle, clean 5 meters radius of their outlet by themselves.
4. The food outlet workers are to wear clean dress and good attire, such as, head cap, clean apron, hand gloves and face mask etc. and serve the food in hygienic manner.
5. The food outlets have to obey and ensure all principles of food safety.
6. No food outlet is allowed to do business in locations designated as "No Vending Zone" by BMC.
Any deviation to these instructions will be viewed seriously and the BMC will take all measures to impose fine and close the shop with cancellation of trade license and seizure of the vehicles illegally parked on the road.