Around 50 shops in the S.M. Street area were served notice for flouting building, fire safety and trading rules after a random inspection by officials over the last two days.
A hundred other shops have been issued warning, said Health Officer of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation R.S. Gopakumar.
The inspection is being carried out across the city by the departments of health, town planning, and revenue of the Kozhikode Corporation as well as fire and police departments, in the wake of a recent fire incident.
The team has identified many shops where the licensee is not the person running the shop, where the trade is not what is cited in the D&O (Dangerous and Offensive Trades and factories) licence or where the shops have encroached onto the roadside.
Civil cases
Some people have made partitions in the area allotted to one person and are doing separate business. “In many cases, the traders have applied for licence, but the Corporation is unable to provide it due to civil cases between the partners or between the landlord and the tenant,” Dr. Gopakumar said.
So far, the team has completed inspection in Oasis complex and its annex buildings, as well as the shops near Radha theatre and Koyenco Bazaar.
The preliminary checking will be completed in a day or two after which the team will submit a report to the District Collector.
The Collector has called a meeting of merchants and the officials on March 25.
“The merchants will be given some time to comply with the rules. The second phase of inspection will begin by the end of the month, which will be much stricter. Anomalies found in that inspection will be dealt with on the spot,” he said.
