On Monday, the BMC caught approximately 500 illegal food stalls from various areas in the city.
On Monday, the BMC caught approximately 500 illegal food stalls from various areas in the city. On an average, they catch 300 to 400 illegal food stalls in a day across the city. But after the 'pee in pani puri' incident in Thane, the Sena-led civic body has tightened its noose on the vendors. It launched a strict drive against them yesterday, which will continue until April 30. 
No business: Officials from theu00a0 BMC unload the foodstuff confiscated
from street food vendors at a godown in Wadala. Pic/Datta Kumbhar
MiD DAY had reported about the drive and the storp on Sunday. ('Go, find a pani puri waala', April 17).
Yasin Khan, BMC Recovery Assistant, said, "After the panipuriwala incident we have become more strict. People are telling us to take away the licences of those who do these things." He added that after they catch the vendors, they return their stalls the next day, only after they have chucked out the rotten food stored in the stalls. They fear that the stall owners would use stale, insalubrious foodstuff and feed it to customers. "At times, we have to throw their food stuff as it is rotten," Khan said.
About the stern BMC drive, Chandrakant Rokhade, deputy municipal commissioner, said, "We do this regularly, but we have stepped up the drive. We are trying hard to get rid of this problem. Our main motto is to keep the city free of unhygienic hawkers." Dinkar Kharat, Licence superintendent, BMC, said, "We are not giving any new licences to vendors. We stopped doing that in 1979."
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