Hundreds of Parliament employees who bring lunch from home now face an unusual problem: they are not allowed to clean utensils and lunch boxes in the Parliament complex anymore.
An internal circular issued by Lok Sabha secretariat on Wednesday said that the authority has taken “a serious view” of the issue.
“It has been observed that the officers and staff are washing utensils and lunch boxes in the washrooms of Parliament House Complex,” the circular said.
“This, apart from resulting into blockage of drainage system and causing inconvenience to the users, also causes deterioration in the standard of overall cleanliness and hygiene,” the circular added.
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A higher number of Parliament staff are now bringing lunch from home as the canteens have stopped serving food as part of the measures to tackle the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The canteens, earlier run by northern railways, were barred from cooking as the authorities wanted to avoid crowds. Even as the canteens continue to serve tea and snacks, officials are left with little option but to bring food from home.
They have now been asked to “desist from washing their utensils and lunch boxes” and to “ co-operate in maintaining the desired level of cleanliness and hygiene”, according to the circular.
{{/usCountry}}They have now been asked to “desist from washing their utensils and lunch boxes” and to “ co-operate in maintaining the desired level of cleanliness and hygiene”, according to the circular.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian Parliament has more than 2,000 officials and staff and 1,000 security personnel. An internal report of the canteen committee of Parliament showed that the staff and the security personnel, not the MPs, mostly eat in the canteen.