In its continuing crackdown on unhygienic eateries, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) fined the Novotel hotel in Madhapur Rs 30,000, after alleged violations related to procuring and storing meat.
According to reports, West Zone officials of the GHMC who raided the hotel said that they were using stamped meat, but labels were not kept, to determine when the meat was purchased.
“The hotel was using stamped meat but they removed the labels from the meat making it difficult for us to identify the date of purchase. Also, they were using private vehicles to dispose the bulk garbage. There are chances that the food and the ingredients in the bulk garbage may be recycled and used if the garbage is disposed by private vehicles," Mamatha V, a GHMC official, told the Times of India.
This comes less than a week after the GHMC imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on a 'Best Price' Walmart outlet in the city that was selling 'unstamped' meat.
Earlier, GHMC conducted a raid on Y2K restaurant in Panjagutta and sealed it, besides fining six other eateries for lack of hygiene and poor food standards.
For the past few weeks, the GHMC has been conducting massive raids across the city.
This came after GHMC instructed the hotels under their limits, to maintain hygienic premises and to use only stamped meat from notified slaughterhouses.
"It is a public–private partnership and the GHMC issues permission to private agencies to build and run these notified slaughterhouses, in accordance with our norms and rules. Therefore, we can be sure that the meat from here is healthier," an official from the GHMC's Health Wing had earlier told TNM.
However, since this meat is costly, several eateries make their purchases from local butchers, thereby putting public health at risk.