Taking note of encroachers and vendors serving food in unhygienic surroundings, Kerala Tourism has tied up with the Food Safety Department to clamp down on such eateries at four tourist locales in the State.
The initiative will kick off at Fort Kochi, Kovalam, and Shangumugham, following which it will be extended to all 25 major tourist destinations in the State.
“We are working with the department to ensure that visitors to the locales get quality street food. The initiative will begin in a couple of months. Serving of inferior quality food, encroachments by vendors, and littering by them are major eyesores at tourist locales, said a senior Kerala Tourism official.
The development comes in the wake of concern raised by tourists over eateries functioning in shacks and ramshackle structures canvassing gullible tourists, especially foreigners, to have seafood and other items.
“We keep telling civic agencies and the police to act against encroachers, especially those selling food items. This is because Kerala Tourism and DTPCs do not have regulatory powers,” the official added.
At Fort Kochi, the Revenue Department has mooted imposition of fine on encroachers to ensure cleanliness and to make available footpaths and wide public spaces to visitors.
This is because such amenities are now in the hands of encroachers, many of whom have put up shacks selling fish, next to the beach walkway. “We took up the issue with the police. But they insist on a written complaint, though eateries have fully encroached upon the footpath beside the Fort Kochi police station. The Tourism Police too is not of much help in clearing the mess,” said an office-bearer of the Kerala Home Stay and Tourism Society.
