New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath has instructed officials to ensure that the names and addresses of the operators, proprietors and managers of eateries in the state are prominently displayed at the establishment. If necessary, the Food Safety and Standards Act, which deals with the subject, could also be amended, Adityanath told officials at a high-level review meeting on September 24.
This is not the first time this year that Adityanath has issued directives requiring food sellers to display the names of their owners at their eateries. During the recent Kanwar Yatra, his government had mandated that food sellers display the names and identities of their owners at their eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route. The Supreme Court, however, put a stay on that controversial move, which many believed was a blatant act of communal identification and discrimination.
Adityanath’s fresh directions to his officials came in the backdrop of at least four incidents over the last two weeks in UP where food stall staff or juice centres were accused of and penalised for allegedly contaminating edible items such as juice and rotis with human waste or spit.
On September 19, while opening a three-storey ‘floating restaurant’ in Gorakhpur, Adityanath made a cheeky reference to these incidents, without naming the accused or revealing their identity.
“It’s good, at least what you get here won’t be the juice from Hapur. You won’t get rotis with spit on them. Whatever you get here, will be pure,” said Adityanath, to loud claps and a cheer of ‘Jai Jai Shri Ram’ from the audience.
Though Adityanath mentioned Hapur, he was probably referring to an incident in Ghaziabad where two persons – the juice stall owner and a minor who worked there – were arrested on September 13 for allegedly contaminating juice with human urine. The arrested accused was identified as one Aamir.
Additional Commissioner of Police, Ankur Vihar, Ghaziabad, Bhaskar Verma said that after some locals brought the matter to their notice, local police inspected the juice stall and found a can filled with one litre of human urine. Hindustan Times reported that the accused Aamir explained to police that since there was no place near his stall to urinate, he has been storing the urine in a plastic bottle. However, the police was not convinced by his reply. “The stall owner didn’t give a satisfactory reply,” said officer Verma.
An FIR was lodged in the case for charges related to adulteration of food or drink intended for sale, sale of noxious food or drink and malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life.
In another incident, on September 7, police in Gautam Buddha Nagar arrested a restaurant employee, identified as Chand, for allegedly spitting on rotis while making them at the eatery. The act was allegedly caught on video and widely shared on social media. The first information report invoked charges related to negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life, malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant causing danger to human life, health or safety.
A similar incident was reported in Saharanpur on September 10, where a minor boy was arrested for allegedly spitting on rotis while he was making them. The restaurant where the boy worked was also sealed by the food safety department, said police.
A case was registered in the matter for promoting enmity between different grounds on the grounds of religion, etc.
Another incident was reported in Shamli, also in west UP, on September 23 when a juice vendor was arrested for allegedly spitting into the mosambi (sweet lime) juice while he was squeezing the fruit with a hand-operated juicer. A short clip of the incident was shared on social media. The accused was identified as Asif, aged 20.
In his review meeting with officials of the Food Safety and Drug Administration department, Adityanath mentioned that incidents had been reported from different corners of the country where edible items such as juice, dal and roti were contaminated with “human waste, non-edible items and nasty things.”
“Such incidents are disgusting and can have adverse affects on the health of the common people. Such malicious attempts cannot be accepted at all. Concrete arrangements need to be made to ensure that such incidents do not happen in UP,” a government spokesman said quoting Adityanath.
The chief minister directed strict action against those who mix “human waste and nasty items” with food.
Adityanath’s directives did not stop there. He has also asked officials and police to run a state-wide campaign and probe all restaurants and dhabas, and conduct a verification of all staff and workers in such establishments.
Adityanath also wants CCTV cameras to be installed in dhabas, hotels and restaurants in the state, and that all the areas, including where the customers are seated, be covered. “It should be ensured that every establishment operator keeps the feed of CCTV cameras safe and makes it available to the police or local administration if required,” Adityanath told officials.
In July, when the Supreme Court had put an interim stay on the Adityanath government’s directives for eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route, the government had justified it by saying that the idea was to ensure “transparency and informed choice” of the Kanwariyas regarding the food they eat during the pilgrimage keeping in mind their “religious sentiments.”
To push its argument that the directives were issued to prevent confusion in the minds of the kanwariyas, the government attached details of three dhabas in Muzaffarnagar owned by Muslims but had names that did not reveal so. The three eateries are Raja Ram Bhoj dhaba, Rajasthani Shudh Khalsa Dhaba and the Pandit Ji Vaishno Dhaba.
