The Hindu              19.07.2012

‘Sanitation top priority’

Municipal Commissioner Md. Abdul Azeem made a whirlwind visit of various localities to inspect sanitation in the city, on Wednesday.

He categorically told the officials that he would not tolerate the dereliction of duties. Departmental action would be initiated if they were found to have neglected their duties, he said. The Commissioner said that the sanitation works should be completed before the dawn. Sanitation should be accorded top priority as monsoon brought diseases also. The silt removed from the drains should be transported immediately without dumping it on the roads . Supply of safe drinking water should be ensured to avoid diseases; he said and inquired from the local people on door to door garbage collection, water supply, health problems etc. On the spot chlorine tests were conducted at a few places to check whether the water supplied was potable.

Measures to close the road-side tiffin centres and eateries functioning in unsanitary conditions should be taken. Upon noticing that the Ryve’s canal was filled with filth and trash, he asked the officials to take steps to clear the canal. Inquiring whether mesh and fencing could be taken up in hilly areas as landslides could occur in rainy season, he asked the officials to submit a report on it.

Chief Medical Officer M. Satyanarayana Raju, City Planner S. Chakrapani, Executive Engineer-III J. V. Ramakrishna, AMOH Z. Srinivasa Rao and others were present.

The Hindu         19.07.2012

Two city restaurants closed down in raids

Problems noticed most at joints selling Arabian food

Two city restaurants were temporarily closed down in a raid by the Mobile Vigilance Squad of the Health Department here on Wednesday. The raids were carried out following the death of a student by food poisoning in Thiruvananthapuram two days ago.

Over the past two days, raids led by District Licensing Authority A. Mohammed Rafi were conducted on 20 city restaurants. A squad member said many of them prepared food in unhygienic conditions. The freezers were not working in some places. Cooked food items were kept in open containers.

Presence of open drains near the cooking and food storage areas was noted in some cases. Another major problem was the mixing of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items while being stored in the freezer.

“Two restaurants, Arabian Dine on Annie Hall Road and Broast at Thondayad were asked to close down temporarily. Since they can solve the problem with the existing infrastructure, they can probably reopen in a week’s time,” said Anil Kumar, Food Safety Officer, who was part of the squad. Mr. Kumar said the problems were noticed most at fast-food joints selling Arabian food. Since those who are running these were fairly new to the industry, they did not follow the hygienic rules.

The Food Safety Commissionerate formed recently according to the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 has been organising awareness programmes on hotel hygiene since January. Training programmes were also conducted recently. But only a few hotels participated in this, Mr. Anil Kumar said.

According to the new Act, all hotels have to get new registrations and licenses before August 4. But only 20 per cent of the hotels in the district have complied with the rule till now. The hotels under the Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi had opposed some points in the Act and had asked for an extension. But now they have started applying for licenses.

Meanwhile, the health standing committee of the city Corporation has expressed concern that the Food Safety Act has taken away its powers to take action against food safety offenders.

The health inspectors will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss on the safety measures to be initiated.