Footpaths: To walk or to eat?

Footpaths: To walk or to eat?
By Fathima Sumaya Khan,DHNS,Bangalore:
The City has a huge culture of eating out. Not just in restaurants but also by the roadside. Walk down any road and you will find eateries, including the mobile ones;

The City has a huge culture of eating out. Not just in restaurants but also by the roadside. Walk down any road and you will find eateries, including the mobile ones; pani puri and chana churwallas dotting them.

Though they cater to many Bangaloreans and their gastronomic needs, they also blatantly encroach the roads, which hardly have any space left for vehicles.

Do these eateries have the licence to conduct business on the roadside? Sources in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) said that they are encroachers but they can do little to remove them.

“Most of them are carrying on with their business in collusion with some corrupt BBMP officials. They grease their palms and in turn, are allowed to carry on their business,” said a BBMP official on condition of anonymity.
Dr L T Gayathri, chief health officer of BBMP had an interesting take on the issue.

She said roadside eateries don’t exist in the “prominent locations” of the City. “They are only located in small places. The BBMP staff chase vendors selling unhygienic food on the footpath but they return to business as soon as the staff leave. We don’t know how to solve the problem.”

Operation
A senior BBMP official said that recently his zonal office had carried out an operation in which they seized some illegal goods from roadside vendors. “Since then I have been receiving calls from a particular politician to release the goods to the vendors,” he alleged.

Another health inspector of BBMP said whenever they carry an operation to remove encroachments on footpaths, they face stiff resistance from residents in the area.

According to BBMP officials, there is no provision to give licence to hawkers and vendors who encroach the footpaths.

BBMP Commissioner S Subramanya said they have an ongoing process to curb illegal encroachments on the footpath.

STALLS GALORE
Commercial Street

Joints selling steamed corn have left little space for movement on Commercial Street. Things get worse with people littering the road with paper cups. There is also a mad rush for idli and dosa and snacks on Ibrahim Sahib Street, parallel to Commercial Street, during evening hours.

Majestic

Chat stalls and mobile vendors selling chicken and egg dishes in Majestic area are among notorious encroachers.

City Market

Cut fruit sellers, vendors selling vadas and corn and non-vegetarian fast food make ‘best’ use of footpaths.

Gandhi Bazaar

Some hotels in the area put their tables for their customers on the main road