Food stall at Kurla station shut for selling unhygienic juice

Central Railway on Monday sealed a food stall at Kurla station after a video of an unhygienic lemon juice preparation shot by commuter from the foot overbridge went viral on social media.

In the video, the vendor is seen preparing the juice with bare hands and impure water stored in the water tanks on the roof top of the canteen. The railways are replacing the roof of the platform and hence the activities of the vendor were visible.

Sources said a similar incident had occurred at Thane station earlier last year, but there have been just cosmetic actions with no impact due to lenient officials at the helm in the Central Railway. There is now an additional number of divisional managers in the Mumbai division now but without direction and wrong priorities. The source added that most of them are locked in meetings throughout the week inaccessible to the public with no motivation to ground staff.

Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee member Subhash Gupta said that there should be strict action against such canteen owners. "They are openly playing with the lives of commuting public," he added.

The Comptroller and Auditor General 2017 report said that the food articles being provided on the railways are unfit for human consumption. Some of it is contaminated or past its shelf life. The fault apparently is in the compromises made on cleanliness and hygiene, a case that was found at Kurla today.

Apart from the unsuitable food, the CAG report had found that the water was not purified, waste bins not covered and foodstuff left to the depredations of flies, dust, rats and cockroaches. The CAG had audited a sample of 74 stations and 80 trains last year.

Central Railway's chief spokesperson Sunil Udasi said the stall has been identified at Kurla station. "A complaint was received via Twitter at 6:40pm on 25 March 2019 regarding unfit lime water being sold on stall on pf-7/8 at Kurla. Senior Officials reached site immediately on receiving information at 7:23pm. The samples have been taken and sent for bacteriological examination. The stall has been sealed immediately at 8:40pm. The licensee has been called for detailed enquiry tomorrow. Meanwhile, the drive by health inspectors and officials from commercial department have been intensified to inspect hygeine and water quality of all the stalls over Mumbai Division," Udasi said.

Also Read: Subway outlet shut in Hyderabad after cockroaches found in soft drink

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