Ghmc food street

HYDERABAD: It has been more than two years since Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) set up a street vending food hub opposite Shilparamam stretch. Till date, there aren’t any takers to make use of the stalls. According to GHMC sources, around Rs 60 lakh was spent on setting up around 50 kiosks. Some of the kiosks are damaged, water cooler taps are missing and some of the tables and benches are partially broken. The food hub could not be made operational following a Supreme Court stay order after an individual claimed ownership of the land. The GHMC, however, claimed that the land was part of a public road. “A lot of public money has been invested and now nothing is moving forward. It is a criminal waste of resources,” city-based civic activist Harish Daga told TOI. Each of the kiosks was built using recycled plastic and was allocated to vendors who have been trained by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to maintain hygiene. After the dispute arose over the land, the food hub has remained unused and the case also did not move forward owing to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the civic body is planning to set up more food zones and currently identifying separate land spaces for vendors to run their businesses. However, officials admit that finding free land spaces in certain densely populated areas like Old City and Banjara Hills is a tough task. The entire project is being done using the central government’s funds sanctioned under PM’s Street Vendo...

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), in collaboration with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched mobile labs called Food Safety on Wheels on Friday to run quality checks on food. The unit was flagged off by Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi who while speaking at the launch event said that the GHMC has 30 circles and the vehicle will be sent every day to one circle. The vehicles are equipped with the required paraphernalia to test food adulteration on the spot. Flagged off food safety on wheels along with inspecting the quality of food & take strict actions against food adulteration. The Mayor further said, ”Four Food Safety Officers and one laboratory technician will be in the vehicle that will go around the city to check the quality of food.” The Mayor also directed the food safety officers in all circles of GHMC to carry out inspections and check the quality of daily food items to prevent adulteration. Also Read Food safety on wheels Each mobile van will have an FSO, lab technician, lab assistant and driver. For more information, citizens can call GHMC’s toll-free number 040-21111111. These mobile labs will conduct simple tests to detect common adulterants in milk, water, edible oil, and other food items consumed on a daily basis. The mobile labs will reach out to the unorganised sector involved in street food vending, eating establishments etc. The mobile food testing labs can test over 50 food categories.

Footpath facility created by the Hyderabad Metro Rail in front of the fruit market in Kothapet presents a shabby picture these days. Pedestrians have to run hurdles to rush to the Chaitanyapuri Metro Station, in order to avoid the hawkers who set shop right along the footpath, often occupying the whole of the tiled portion. Majority of the pedestrians take the abutting road in order to avoid getting on and off the footpaths every often. Interestingly, most of the street vendors here have been issued identity cards by the GHMC, which authorises them for street vending. Some of them have even availed themselves of the loan facility based on their cards. “Still, we have to continuously live in fear of the police, who show special enthusiasm in controlling us. We understand that this is not the vending zone, but we do not know where it is, and we get a lot of business here,” says K.Lakshmamma, a fruit vendor. Despite issuing identity cards in lakhs during a campaign under the Prime Minister Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi(PM SVANidhi), GHMC has not made much progress so far in demarcating vending zones for the hawkers, and shifting them there. As per the information shared by GHMC at the time of the campaign, more than 1.62 lakh street and small time vendors had been identified under the scheme and identity cards had been issued to over 1.54 lakh vendors. However, sources say that all these vendors do not come under the vending zone policy, which is reserved for hawkers alon...

Express News Service 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 Suprem...