The Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC), which is taking various measures to check the outbreak of diarrhoea in the city, has issued instructions to the Pani Puri vendors that they will not be allowed to run their business unless they don’t maintain hygiene at their roadside stalls. The civic body has also served notices on 25 private water plants to produce their licences, ISO certificates and recent laboratory reports on water samples and other permits.
GMC Commissioner Keerthi Chekuri issued the instructions to the Pani Puri vendors after a report prepared by Dr. G. Sobha Rani, Civil Surgeon Bacteriologist at Regional Public Health Laboratory in Guntur maintained that unhygienic conditions at the vends might be the reason for the diarrhoea outbreak.
In the report, Dr. Sobha Rani requested the GMC Commissioner to issue suitable orders to Pani Puri vendors to maintain hygiene at their stalls such as taking anti-fly measures and protecting the eatables from dust.
Based on the suggestions, Ms. Keerthi Chekuri instructed the Pani Puri vendors to maintain proper hygiene such as covering the eatables and using clean water, etc. at the selling points.
Meanwhile, the GMC officers served notices on 25 private water plants to produce their licences, ISO certificates, recent laboratory reports on water samples and other permits. The private water plants in Sarada Colony, Srinagar, Bongarala Beedu, IPD Colony, Sangadi Gunta and Nalla Cheruvu areas received the notices on Tuesday.
The GMC has already closed down six private water plants after the samples collected from their premises were found unsuitable for consumption during tests. The pH levels of the sample were found to have failed to meet the prescribed standards.
The GMC Commissioner instructed the officials to serve notices on all water plants functioning in the corporation limits.
She also instructed the Sanitary Inspectors to ensure good sanitation in the city, especially in the vending zones.
