Garden City eateries give top slot to cleanliness

BANGALORE, June 22: The Clean Bangalore’ drive by the City corporation has put hotels, restaurants and small eateries in the Garden City on their toes. Raids by Corporation officials and subsequent cancellation of licences of at least 40 eating houses have made hygiene the buzzward among hoteliers. The city boasts of 4,983 restaurants, 243 hotels, 1,162 bakeries and 727 sweet shops, apart from the hundreds of eateries in the 36 new wards which have come up. Hoteliers, however, complain that the drive has become just another means for the corrupt official to squeeze out money from helpless hotel owners. They also plead that in view of the current water shortage, their scope in ensuring the corporation’s watchword of total cleanliness’ is limited.