Hotel under scanner for insects in food

Irked patrons demand action after allegedly discovering worms and cockroaches in food served at Kamat Yatri Nivas; management blames BBMP for not keeping the area clean

Irked patrons demand action after allegedly discovering worms and cockroaches in food served at Kamat Yatri Nivas; management blames BBMP for not keeping the area clean
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Barely a month after the BBMP's Public Health Committee issued a notice to the Kamat Yatri Nivas Hotel at Gandhi Nagar, an incident of unhygienic food being served has come to light. Several patrons protested outside the hotel early yesterday morning claiming to have found worms and cockroaches in the food served to them.


Kamat Yatri Nivas staff clean up the mess outside the hotel. They
said that BBMP officials do not to clean the drainage and this has
caused the infestation

The hoteliers initially attempted to disperse the protesters before the issue could attract media attention and then conveniently turned the blame onto the BBMP for not clearing the drainage outside the hotel.

"There is no such problem of worms in our food. We work very close to the National Market and the drainage hasu00a0 been overflowing for a few days. Since BBMP office was closed, I even got my own men to clear the mess," said Babu Bhat, GM, Kamath Yatri Nivas.

Customers cry foul
Furious customers on the other hand refused to budge and continued to maintain that the hotel was at fault.
"A person seated next to me in the hotel found a small cockroach in his food.

We all saw it, but the hotel staff cleared it out quickly. When we questioned the management, they denied everything and accused us of maligning their reputation.

We protested outside and then the manager sent some persons to clear the drain, which is just a ruse to hide the truth about their unhygienic food," said one of the customers on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, other protesting customers pointed out that the same hotel had come under the BBMP scanner recently.

"They do not seem to have learnt a lesson even though the BBMP pointed out that they maintain and cook food in unhygienic conditions. We face a problem because they dump waste food in the drainages," said Adil, a shopkeeper from National Market.

BBMP to crackdown
Commenting on the issue, K N Geeta Shashikumar, president, Public Health Committee, BBMP has now decided to take stern action against the hotel authorities. The same committee had, on their earlier visit to the hotel, warned the authorities to clean up their act or face the music.

"We have sanctioned Rs 6 crore to clear up the area. How can the hotel now claim that the BBMP has failed to clear the drains? I am going to question the customers and investigate further. If found guilty, stern action will be taken against the hotel," said Shashikumar.