Hyderabad: GHMC Zonal Commissioners to be designated as 'Food Safety Commissioners' to protect consumer health

Hyderabad: Telangana government has decided to designate Zonal Commissioners of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) as 'Food Safety Commissioners'.

The move is aimed at ensuring food safety and protecting consumer health in Hyderabad.

Sources said 'Food Safety Commissioners' will be given administrative and executive powers to carry out raids and inspections against erring food establishments in Hyderabad. Under the guidelines, they can disconnect the power supply and cancel licenses in case of violations.

Earlier, the authority lay with the Telangana Food Safety Department only. This is being done to ensure regular checks at the micro level. Restaurants and hotels will be the prime focus, and the commissioners can penalize them in case of violations.

GHMC and the Food Safety Department are two different government entities. GHMC, with five designated zones (North, South, East, West, and Central, each headed by Zonal Commissioners), is a municipal body catering to the Greater Hyderabad region.

Food Safety is a specialized area that looks into hygiene and other aspects of essential items. Pertinently, GHMC, being a corporation, does have a wing for food safety. However, it has mostly remained defunct.

In the last year, the Telangana Food Safety Department launched a massive crackdown against unhygienic restaurants. Raids were carried out frequently on violators, and hefty penalties were slapped.

According to the data accessed by NewsMeter, there are close to 60,000 mega and micro food outlets in the Greater Hyderabad region. In one year, 6000 raids were carried out. Licenses of 10 hotels were cancelled, and a penalty was imposed against 220 outlets.

However, there are many challenges for an ever-growing city like Hyderabad, which has a population of 1.1 crore. There are 60,000 food outlets in the city alone. These include 40,000 small tiffin service centers and 18,000 restaurants and food manufacturing units. Raids were also conducted on hospital canteens, government hostels, hotels, and tiffin centers.

Despite a vast area to cover with ever-increasing food joints, the Food Safety Department is short-staffed. There are only 64 officers posted in the department. Of these, 24 are designated to Hyderabad, while the rest operate across the state. Comparatively, Tamil Nadu has 400 staff and Kerala 160.

Speaking to NewsMeter, a senior officer who doesn't want to be named said, "GHMC Zonal Commissioners, who will also be designated as food safety commissioners, will be empowered to conduct raids, levy a penalty, and cancel a license if they detect violations. The GHMC Zonal Commissioner will have resources (manpower) at the micro level to carry out inspections. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is very serious about the health and hygiene of the people. Soon there will be a high-level meeting and new regulations will come into place.”

GHMC Zonal Commissioners comprise mostly young IAS officers. "GHMC Zonal Commissioners do approve building permission. When they have the manpower and resources, they can take on roles that go beyond their traditional duties. We are confident they will ensure food safety in the city," the officer said.