Mumbai Police: For cops on duty, a balanced meal is a far cry

Located outside the office of the police commissioner, near Crawford Market, Shetty’s hotel has been the oldest one providing meals to policemen in the area.

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Shekhar Shetty, the current manager and son of owner M. Sanjeeva Shetty, says the shack is at least 50 years old. Open from 8 am to 7 pm, the hotel serves dishes like misal pav, vada pav and idli, besides chicken on Wednesdays and Fridays.

“Tea and usal-sambhar have the highest demand. Only policemen and other staff are allowed here,” said Shetty.

Besides the shack, there is a cafeteria inside the police headquarters that was started a month ago under the police welfare programme where the policemen stop by for lunch.

A vegetarian thali comprises three phulkas, two vegetable curries, rice, daal, papad and pickle. For non-vegetarians, there is a chicken curry option.

Talking to The Indian Express reporters, Tejas Deshmukh, a constable whose family has shifted to his hometown after his father retired from the police force, said, “Usually I prefer having tea in the cafeteria. As my family has shifted, I have no other option than having food in the cafeteria. Sometimes the food is unhygienic as I contracted jaundice and it almost took a month to get back to normal.”

Most of the policemen from Killa court or the chief metropolitan magistrate court prefer Shree Satyanarayan Hindu Hotel, which is more than 50 years old, to the relatively new government-owned Esplanade Cafeteria behind the Azad Maidan police station.

Esplanade Cafeteria, which is at least 20 years old, “is too expensive for policemen”, said a bailiff outside the court who did not wish to be named.

“I usually carry a lunchbox from home, which I finish before my duty starts. We, the policemen, rely mostly on vada pav, tea-biscuit. We cannot afford to spend more on food,” he said.

Ramu Tabiyad, who has been looking after Satya Narayan Hindu Hotel for almost 20 years now, said, “A majority of the cops prefer tea and missal pav. Ever since I started working here, I have mostly seen cops coming to the hotel, which is completely different from other hotels.”

The cafeteria, with a little over-the-top prices, runs on contracts. A handful of the policemen could be seen having daal-chawal there.