Hyderabad: For a city with more than 20,000 food joints, 5,000 roadside pushcart vendors and 1.2 billion population, the civic body has only three food inspectors as against a required strength of 30.
They are in charge of ensuring that all registered restaurants and eateries abide by the acceptable standards of health and hygiene.
Even though the state government has assured that the 26 vacancies in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will be filled, no recruitment has been done till date.
In the absence of food inspectors, the health and hygiene at eateries is a million dollar question. Surprisingly, in its eagerness to achieve property tax targets, the GHMC has compromised on public health and deputed all the three food inspectors to collect tax. Officials admit that it is impossible to ensure hygiene and safety in all city hotels with the current staff. Due to the deficiency of staff, only about 50 food samples are tested thrice a week.
When contacted, the GHMC health wing officials denied the allegations and said that they had no role in collecting property tax till today. Instead, they said, they had recently attended a training programme organised by the Commissioner of Food Safety.
Commenting on the duties of food inspectors, a health wing official said, “We are expected to monitor all these facilities and ensure proper food and water, that there is no contamination or poisoning, that the kitchens and serving areas are clean and hygienic, and that no stale food is being dished out.”
