Saturday, 20 January 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The joint teams of the Municipal Corporation of Haridwar (MCH), Haridwar district administration and the police on Friday took action against seven establishments that conduct illegal langar near ghats in Haridwar.
The inspection was conducted on the orders of Haridwar district magistrate Dhiraaj Singh Garbyal, the MCH sanitation inspector Shrikant Chaudhary said. The teams conducted a joint inspection of the Har Ki Paidi area from 3 PM to 4:30 PM. The teams issued notice to seven establishments in the area that conduct illegal langars near ghats, especially near Subhash Ghat.
Chaudhary told The Pioneer, “Many eateries bring foods near ghats in big utensils and serve it to pilgrims and others in the name of langar but people have to pay money to them. Some pilgrims often pay operators of such eateries a considerable amount of money in the name of donations and ask them to feed beggars and people in need. These people conduct langar near the ghats against the rules. This often leads to dirty ghats and garbage accumulating in the area which leads to water pollution. Besides this, we do not know the quality of the food served to pilgrims there by random people in the name of langar.” Considering this, he added, authorities issued a notice to seven establishments to refrain from organising langars near ghats.
The authorities have directed them to organise langars to some other place away from ghats as per the rules. Chaudhary said that the police will take strict action against those found violating the rules. Besides this, the authorities also issued notices to five establishments for sanitation related violations under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. The MCH also imposed a challan of Rs 500 each on two establishments for violations under the Anti-Littering Act, Chaudhary said.
