Well-known eateries in Balurghat run without 'Food Safety Licences'

Balurghat: Most of the well-known eateries running in Balurghat have no 'Food Safety Licences'.

The matter came to light following joint drives conducted by the officials of the concerned district Food Safety Department and Balurghat Civic Body over the past two days.

It may be mentioned that the state Urban Development department has instructed all civic bodies to conduct raids at restaurants and eateries after a racket selling rotten and stale meat was unearthed in Kolkata.

The concerned officials have asked the owners of the restaurants and eateries to follow the food safety norms strictly, failing which they will close down the establishments.

During the drives, the officials found that the hotels and restaurants are being run flouting the mentioned norms. In most of the restaurants, the kitchens are being run in unhygienic conditions. However, no stale and rotten meat was found stored in the freezers.

Civic officials said the former Left board was largely responsible for the menace of flouting the food safety measures by the owners of those eateries and running their establishments without any hindrance.

According to a civic official, the erstwhile Left board had only distributed registrations to the owners of those establishments for Rs 100 to start their trades.

District Food Safety Department official, Biswajit Manna said: "It is unfortunate that most reputed hotels and restaurants in town have no proper infrastructure. The kitchens are unhygienic. The establishments have no Food Safety Licenses too. We have instructed to follow the rules and regulations immediately."

The chairman of Balurghat Municipality, Rajen Shill echoed Manna and said: "We will monitor the situation. Several drives will also be conducted at the eateries in Balurghat in future. We have talked to the officials of district Food Safety Department regarding the matter."

The officials said the raids will be held everyday and restaurants found not following the norms will be booked.

It may be mentioned that in Birbhum district, the civic officials have collected food samples from several restaurants and sent them to the laboratories for analysis.