Clean, hygienic street food hubs to come up outside Vashi railway station

: Soon, commuters and residents can enjoy clean, hygienic street food outside the Vashi railway station as the CIDCO has undertaken to revamp the area; FSSAI has decided to set up clean street food hubs at different places, the popular eatery outside Vashi railway station being one of them

Soon, commuters and residents can enjoy clean street food outside the Vashi railway station as the CIDCO has undertaken to revamp the area.

The popular eatery outside Vashi railway station will be revamped soon as per the FSSAI standards so that commuters and residents can enjoy hygienic, clean street food. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

The Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to set up clean street food hubs at different places of Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayandar as well as Navi Mumbai. The popular eatery outside Vashi railway station has over 30 stalls and hundreds of people have food there on a daily basis. The FSSAI has chosen this eatery to turn into one such hub and has asked the local authorities to take care of the basic infrastructure. As the area belongs to CIDCO, they are now renovating that place to meet the standards set by the FSSAI.

A senior CIDCO officer said, “The FSSAI officials initially explained their plans to the people working in the eatery and then conducted an online training programme last month. During the programme, they trained the people on how to cook hygienic food with less oil, sugar or salt, how to store and serve those at their stalls. Recently, FSSAI set up one such hub in Juhu, Mumbai, and reportedly it has received very good response from the people.

“Meanwhile, they also asked us to take care of the cleanliness and basic infrastructure of that area. So, we are now changing the old paver blocks with new ones in the area between the station premises and the eatery. We have already repaired the old sewage lines and covered the uncovered parts. We have also put some umbrella-type structures where people can stand and have their food. If required, we will also do some minor paintings at some places.”

Manish Tiwari, 37, who works at a nearby office, said, “Several people come and have breakfast, lunch or evening snacks at these stalls. Many of the stalls, however, do not follow the basic cleanliness rules. We also cannot protest as the options are limited. So, the initiative taken by FSSAI and CIDCO will ensure hygienic food for the people.”