New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel on Monday clarified that the government has no problem with various food habits of people, reported PTI. This statement came from the CM amidst a decision by a few civic bodies of the state to shut street food vendors selling non-vegetarian food.
“Some people eat vegetarian food, some people eat non-vegetarian food, the BJP government does not have any problem with it. There have been demands to remove particular 'larries' (carts) from the road,” Patel said during a BJP programme at Bandhani village in the Anand district of Gujarat.
The CM, also said that action would be initiated against those street food vendors who would be selling unhygienic food or if their carts would obstruct traffic. "Our only concern is that the food sold from food carts should not be unhygienic,” further added Patel
He said that civic bodies decide to remove a street cart if they are found to obstruct the road traffic. “Local municipal corporations or municipalities take decisions to remove food carts. They can do so if they are obstructing traffic on city roads,” said the CM.
These statements by Bhupendra Patel came at a time when some civic bodies in the state were deciding to shut street vendors who sold nonvegetarian food items. Earlier the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s Town Planning Committee had decided to not allow non-vegetarian stalls alongside public roads and those within proximity of 100 metres from the school and religious places in the city.
Several other cities like Vadodara, Rajkot and Dwarka too saw a demand to remove non-veg food carts from public places.