BHUBANESWAR: Around 1.5 quintals of unhygienic and stale food was seized and destroyed by food safety officials of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) from stalls put up near Durga Puja pandals in the city.
BMC officials said the food safety officials along with the Shine team, the enforcement squad of the civic body, carried out searches at pandals in Patia, Damana, Sailashree Vihar, Rasulgarh, Saheed Nagar, Jharpada, Old Town and other areas on Sunday and seized around 80 kg unhygienic and stale food from vendors.
Similarly, the teams during searches at pandals in Baramunda, Nayapalli, Rasulgarh, Saheed Nagar, Jharpada, etc on Saturday destroyed around 60 kg of unhygienic and stale food.
“The vendors have been asked to follow proper hygiene and cleanliness while cooking. They have also been asked strictly not to use food colour or any other harmful substances. Accordingly, enforcement has been intensified around the pandals,” said city health officer Dr Deepak Kumar Bisoyi.
Meanwhile, BMC officials said ‘Swachhata’ kiosks have been opened at six major pandals including at Rasulgarh, Baramunda, Nayapalli, Jharpada and Saheed Nagar to raise awareness on waste segregation, twin-dustbin norms, safety and hygiene etc among vendors as well as visitors.
Standees with information related to ‘Swachhata’ activities among citizens have also been erected in all 185 pandals in the city, BMC officials said.
Keeping in view the waste generated in the pandals, BMC officials said garbage is being lifted from major pandals thrice daily. The waste is being lifted from mini bazaars near pandals during the morning, afternoon and evening to keep the surroundings clean. The puja committees and vendors have also been asked to ensure people throw waste in dustbins near the food stalls.
Mayor Sulochana Das, BMC commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange and other senior officials are directly monitoring cleanliness measures around the pandals, officials of the sanitation wing said.
Amid festive cheer, people feel pinch of pricey veggies
The soaring price of vegetables during the festive season has hit consumers hard. While the price of potato remains unchanged at Rs 20 a kg, that of onion, the second-most consumed vegetable, has increased from Rs 35 to Rs 40 a kg. In some departmental grocery stores in the city, onion is being sold for Rs 47 a kg.
The price of onion remains high despite the arrival of kharif variety in the local markets. Wholesale traders dealing with the vegetable attributed the rise in price to the delay in the arrival of Kharif onion in major markets of Maharashtra, the major supplier to Odisha.
General secretary of Aiginia vegetable merchant association, the major vegetable mandi in the capital city, Shakti Shankar Mishra told The New Indian Express that the price of onion remains high in the source markets. Erratic rainfall in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the two major producers of onion, is being cited as the cause for the delay in the arrival of the new crop. He said the onion price may further go up as the arrival of the new crop is stated to be delayed by one month. The local kharif onion production is limited and whatever is produced will be consumed in the respective local markets.
Similarly, garlic and ginger are selling for Rs 200 a kg and Rs 150 a kg respectively. While the price of ginger had gone up to Rs 300 a kg in the month of July, Odisha depends on other states for its supply.
The price of tomato which skyrocketed to Rs 200 a kg in July and August remains stable at Rs 30 a kg while bitter gourd is selling for Rs 60-Rs 80 per kg in retail markets. Brinjal, a common vegetable in every household has smoothened and remains at Rs 40 to Rs 60 a kg.
The vegetable was selling for Rs 80-Rs 100 a kg a couple of days back. However, drumstick has become costlier and sell at Rs 120 to Rs 140 a kg.