Ahmedabad bans sale of non-veg food at stalls along public roads

Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in Gujarat on Monday decided to ban stalls selling non-vegetarian food items from the main roads, The Indian Express reported.

"Stalls selling non-vegetarian items will not be allowed along public roads and in the 100-meter radius of schools, colleges and religious places, Town Planning Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has decided," said Committee Chairperson Devang Dani, according to ANI.

He further informed that people were the city were complaining about its sale alongside the public roads and the decision was taken in the meeting of the committee.

Reacting to the ban, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel stressed that the State was not bothered about what people ate, terming the drive a move against road encroachments.

Mr. Patel on Monday said the State Government had no problem with different food habits of people, an assertion coming amidst the demand for removal of non-vegetarian food carts from roads in various cities as the civic bodies had launched a drive against the food kiosks and carts.

According to Mr. Patel, action can be taken against street food carts selling "unhygienic" food or if they are obstructing traffic on city roads.

Earlier, political leaders of the municipal corporations of Rajkot, Vadodara and Bhavnagar had issued similar directives for the removal of non-vegetarian food carts from the main roads and had proceeded to remove them as part of their routine anti-encroachment drives, without waiting for their Standing Committee's nod.

On Saturday, BJP president C R Paatil had told The Indian Express that he had spoken to authorities in Vadodara and Rajkot Municipal Corporations and told them not to remove non-vegetarian food carts from the streets. "The decision to remove these food carts was the personal opinion of leaders (in municipal corporations). The state BJP has nothing to do with it. We will not implement it across the state".