New Delhi: The Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday directed all food vendors and eateries in the state to display the names and addresses of their owners in a bid to enhance ‘transparency’ for customers.
This decision was made during a meeting of the state’s Urban Development and Municipal Corporation on Tuesday, Himachal Pradesh assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania announced in a Facebook post.
“In Himachal, every restaurant and fast food outlet will be required to display the owner’s ID to ensure that people face no difficulties. Instructions for this have been issued in the Urban Development and Municipal Corporation meeting held yesterday,” Pathania said.
A seven-member committee has been constituted to oversee the order’s implementation. The committee includes ministers Vikramaditya Singh and Anirudh Singh, the New Indian Express reported.
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Singh said that regulations will also be introduced for hawkers, including the issuance of identity cards.
The order has come fresh on the heels of a similar directive issued by the Uttar Pradesh government. The Yogi Aditynath government had first brought up the matter ahead of the Kanwar yatra in July. The Supreme Court, however, put a stay on the controversial move, which many believed was a blatant act of communal identification and discrimination.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has given it a renewed push in light of at least four incidents over the last two weeks in UP where food stall staff or juice centres were accused allegedly contaminating juice and rotis with human waste or spit.
