-U.Bharath (cbedit@imaws.org
)
Following complaints of uncouth new methods of corruption increasing in Tamil Nadu, R Lalvena, Commissioner, Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration had reacted strongly to stop it. With complaints of bribe by a section of the Food Safety Officers across various districts in Tamil Nadu, the commissioner has taken a serious view of the issue and warned officials to desist from corrupt practices, more so during the festival season.
Menance for the hoteliers:
Years before, the biggest fear of a business owner running a restaurant would be rowdies demanding ‘mamool’. However, today hoteliers biggest fear is on the food safety authorities who demand mamool from hotel owners.
The issue of bribe-taking by a section of FSOs has been debated at the recently held Tamil Nadu Hotel Association Zonal conference held in Arcot town, in Ranipet district in North Tamil Nadu.
According to restaurateurs, the prevalence of ‘mamool culture’ has spread its tentacles in various districts in Tamil Nadu, and transfers of officials have taken place including Trichy and Chennai, when regular complaints reached the higher-ups in the department. The Ranipet District Hoteliers Association, with over 600 active members spread across towns including Wallajah, Arcot and Ranipet, have raised the issue at the conference and they urged for remedial measures to check this growing menace.
Kitchen Herald reached out to Mr R. Lalvena IAS, to check out the ‘monitoring mechanism’ including initiating disciplinary action against the erring officials. He said that the affected parties including restaurateurs and bakery owners could raise specific complaints about any malpractices affecting their businesses, and strict action would be taken if they are found guilty.
The complaints can be sent to the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department at the link: https://foodsafety.tn.gov.in/contact-us, or they can be emailed to the ID: cmr.fsda@tn.gov.in
While condemning the practice of bribe-taking, Mr Lalvena also issued a stern warning to the erring section of the food safety officials to desist from any such malpractice in future. “The corrupt officials will be sternly dealt with and subjected to disciplinary action by the TN Food Safety Department, if they are found guilty”, Lalvena said.
He also added, “We could act only on specific complaints containing all the relevant details, including the name of the erring official involved, date, place and details about the nature of the complaint. The affected parties could also approach the Department of Vigilance and Anticorruption (DVAC), Tamil Nadu, when erring officials resort to any such unethical demand for bribes, more so during the festival season,”.
Bribe-taking, a burning issue?
The ‘increasing bribes’ by some sections of Food safety officers was raked up by many during a recent state-level conference of TN Hotel Association in Ranipet district. The conference was attended by the members of the Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupathur district association members. The issue has been a centre of debate by the affected restaurateurs and bakery owners in many districts spread over Tamil Nadu.
Padmanabhan, President of the Ranipet District Hotels Association (RDHA), speaking to Kitchen Herald, flagged bribe-taking as a major issue affecting food business operations and prospects in the district.
“The issue of bribe-taking is widespread and a section of FSOs indulge in bribe-taking all over Tamil Nadu, which has not been checked with an iron hand so far by the higher authorities in the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department”, he complained.
Similarly, the members of Ranipet District Hotel Association are being highly affected by this menace of ‘mamool’ culture, and so we raised the issue in the recently held Zonal conference itself. The issue was also brought to the attention of the Ranipet district collector, J.U. Chandrakala, later, who took serious note of the issue and summoned an ‘erring official’ before taking him to task. She issued a stern warning to the erring official and urged other officials to steer clear of any malpractice in future.
Padmanabhan noted that he had also raised the ‘mamool culture’ during an Anti-plastic awareness meeting convened by the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department in Vellore recently, which was organised as a part of the Deepawali festival, to discourage hoteliers and bakery owners from using single-use plastics in their outlets.
Narendra Kumar, Treasurer of Ranipet District Hotels Association who said that more often than not, the restaurant owners and bakers in the district and elsewhere in the state are at the receiving end, and are disproportionately affected, whereas street vendors, who most often sell unhygienic food, are spared for reasons best known to the food safety officials themselves.
“Most of the street vendors use ration rice, and they sell two idlis for Rs 5, whereas we put quality rice and sell it for Rs 40, and they serve food mostly in unhygienic conditions. But, restaurateurs often get targeted even for minor mistakes, whereas the street vendors go scot free,” Narendra Kumar said.
“While food safety officers take a stern view of even a minor mistake in restaurants, they do not even bother to check street vendors, grocery outlets and medical stores. We are in a way ‘harassed’ by the same section of the officials”, he opined.
Touched a new low?
According to restaurateurs in the district, the issue of corruption has touched a new low in recent months.
“The cancer of corruption is something we are fighting every day. Alarmingly, it has reached a nadir, in which a particular FSO in the district has employed a ‘middle man’ to collect ‘mamool’ from every restaurant and bakery, which falls within his jurisdiction. We came to know that the middleman is paid Rs. 10,000 per month to do this errand,” Padmanabhan said.
Subsequently, the Ranipet association members caught him red-handed before issuing a stern warning to him to desist from such practices in future. In our district, we simply refuse to grease the palms of officials and other district association should also follow suit to create a corruption- free eco system in the restaurant business. “We expect that other district associations join hands with us to fight the menace of corruption, which is afflicting food businesses in Tamil Nadu”, he adds.
“The erring officials often use intimidation tactics and even issue ‘open threats’ threatening to file cases against food business operators, including bakery owners and restaurateurs, when they don’t fall in line. A minimum of Rs 1000 is collected from each restaurant or bakery by these erring and unethical Food Safety Officers, every month,” complain restaurateurs in the district.
Educating food business owners is a must
Venkatesalu, Secretary of the Ranipet District Hotels Association, said there are some areas in the district, like the town of Wallajah, where the “misunderstanding” between restaurant owners and the respective FSO persists, while other areas, such as Sholinghur town, have no such issues. The district has seven FSOs functioning under a Designated officer of Food Safety and Drug Control, who heads the department in the district.
Suggesting that the FSOs should follow a step-by-step approach when dealing with restaurateurs and bakery owners, the restauranteurs say that issuing a “stern warning” should be the necessary first step, followed by issuing a notice demanding corrective action, within a stipulated time frame.
In case of non-compliance, any restaurateur or bakery owner should be taken to task as a final step, leading to punitive measures like sealing the premises or filing a case for non-compliance with the safety standards prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
“This even-handed approach is needed as many of the restaurant and bakery owners lack formal education, and enlightening them on food safety procedures and protocols is the necessary first step before taking them to task”, says Venakatesalu. The restaurateurs say that when the issue of corruption is dealt with an iron hand by the higher-ups in the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department, the food business operators could heave a sigh of relief.
We in the food business operate conscientiously as we are in the vital service sector, dealing with a basic need of the people, and we are always open and ready to comply with the prescribed norms and standards and to correct ourselves. But we also insist on our fundamental right to run our business in a healthy and corruption-free ecosystem,” say the restaurateurs and bakers in one voice.
