BUREWALA City News

Substandard, unhygienic food being sold in Burewala
From Our Correspondent
BUREWALA: The sale of substandard and unhygienic food is going on unabated in the city, as officials of the Health Department have failed to perform their duties efficiently, according to people and sources.
A number of food outlets are using substandard substances, colours and flavouring agents in popular food items as consumers are falling victim to various diseases, The News has learnt. The owners of restaurants, makeshift (chhappar) hotels, bakeries and shopkeepers are selling different food items cooked and baked in unhygienic conditions. Restaurants are serving food in filthy utensils and charging inflated rates from their customers.
A large number of stalls and shops could be seen in different localities of the city selling traditional fried food items like samosas, pakoras, fries, halwa poori, fruit chaat, dahi bhallay and shawarma.
Citizens complained that hotels and restaurants were not following cleanliness and safety standards. A senior citizen Muhammad Arshad said substandard food is being sold openly in different markets of the city due to lack of appropriate action against vendors and hotel owners. He said stallholders and shopkeepers were not following hygiene rules, causing abdominal diseases among the consumers, especially children. It is also witnessed that shopkeepers cook traditional food items in substandard cooking oil openly along the roads, which is prohibited by the department concerned, he added.
Cooks working at these restaurants and food outlets do not wear proper cooking dress, complained a student, Muhammad Roshaan. He said hotel owners are required to keep kitchens, pots and utensils clean, but certain outlets are not following these directions. Ali Raza, an employee at grain market, said the sale of substandard nimko, chips, fruitcakes, candies, biscuits and other edibles at bakeries was going on unchecked. Burewala Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Medical Superintendent Rana Muhammad Akram told this correspondent the hospital was receiving a number of patients of diarrhoea, stomach and liver diseases, caused by junk food items. He said people who prepare food items also carry germs of different diseases and transfer them to the consumers. He said their screening is a must to save people from such germ carriers. Muhammad Ishaq, a social worker, said district sanitary inspector Vehari and his subordinates are not fit for their jobs as they are untrained to deal with such kind of matters.
When contacted Executive District Officer Health Dr Afzal Bashir for his version, he did not attended the phone call or replied the SMS sent on his mobile telephone number.