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Journalism of Courage
A day after the Uttar Pradesh government made it mandatory for food outlets across the state to display the name and address of operators, proprietors and managers, Himachal Pradesh’s Minister for Public Works Department and Urban Development, Vikramaditya Singh, said that the owner’s ID card will have to be displayed in every eatery and food stall in the Congress-ruled state.
A day after the decision was taken at a meeting held at his office, he posted on Facebook, “In Himachal Pradesh too, every eatery and fast food cart will have to display the owner’s ID so customers don’t face any sort of inconvenience. To this effect, an order has been passed in a meeting of the Urban Development and Municipal Corporation. Jai Shri Ram.”
Contacted by The Indian Express, he said, “I will only like to say that this decision is state-centric, it is for the well-being of people of the state.”
His mother Pratibha Singh, president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, did not weigh in on the decision, saying one should ask Vikramaditya about it.
Senior BJP leader and MLA Randhir Sharma, who is also the spokesperson of the opposition party in the state, said, “Like Vikramaditya Singh, I too am a member of the recently constituted committee to finalise the Street Vending Policy. But he started making statements before we arrived at a conclusion and formed a policy. However, displaying ID cards of owners of eateries and food stalls should be a must in the state.”
The meeting where the decision was taken was held at Vikramaditya’s office, and had been called to finalise the state’s Street Vending Policy, which has been in the limelight since the September 11 row related to Shimla’s Sanjauli mosque. Behind the communal tensions earlier this month was a fight between two shopkeepers from different communities.
It was also decided in the meeting that all street vendors will display their ID cards and vending licence once the policy is finalised by December 15 this year.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Vikramaditya, the son of six-time CM Virbhadra Singh, said, “There was unrest in our state in the last few days. Our decisions are not driven by any other state. The display of identity cards will be mandatory for all vendors – be it Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian or from any other community. There are instructions to us from the High Court to make vending zones, vending policy in the state. Recent unrest was linked to the absence of a strong vending policy.”
Bhupender Kumar Attri, Commissioner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, who attended the meeting, told The Indian Express, “Food vendors registered under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) must display their ID cards with immediate effect.” Attri said there is no connection with the decision taken in Uttar Pradesh.
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