HYDERABAD: The eco-friendly Street Vending Food Hub with 50 kiosks, which was set up over a year ago, opposite the Shilparamam stretch at HiTec City is gathering rust without ever having being opened. As per estimates, the GHMC spent a whopping Rs 60 lakh of public money on the same.
A visit to the unopened food hub by The New Indian Express unveiled the shocking condition of the kiosks. Over a dozen of them have been damaged. Some are being used by beggars to sleep in while miscreants are utilising some others for drinking, playing cards etc. Almost all the kiosks have gathered rust. Fully grown shrubs and bushes are noticed around the food kiosks. Water cooler taps are missing, tables have been uprooted and sitting benches broken. Toilets in the vending hub present a ghastly sight.
The GHMC had patted itself on the back for constructing the outlets with recycled plastic which in turn were allocated to vendors identified by the civic body. The recycled material was brought in from Ahmedabad.
The selected vendors were trained by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and even awarded certificates.
The food hub was meant to be a replica of Mumbai’s Chowpatty and Ahmedabad’s Khau Galli. For each stall, around 2,000 recycled bottles were used and the GHMC spent Rs 90,000 on each stall.
Court stay
Speaking to The New Indian Express, GHMC officials said that the opening of the Street Vending Food Hub was put on hold as a case in the Supreme Court is pending regarding the land use. A private individual has claimed ownership of the land where the street-vending zone has been set up. He alleged that the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) certificate was not issued to him after his land was acquired. Meanwhile, officials say that before the Ayyappa Society underpass was constructed, the vending zone was a part of a road that was fully operational. So how can the land be private property, they ask.