WHAT ABOUT Punjabi food in a Rajasthani stall at the Mahotsava? This sounds jocular. But, it also gives you a glimpse into the illegal ‘subletting’ of allotted stalls.
The matter pertains to a number of food stall owners setting up stalls at the Lucknow Mahotsava after finding their names in a lottery system and later unauthorizedly “subletting” extra space in stalls to other vendors for conducting business from the same premises.
The office-bearers of the Lucknow Hotel & Restaurant Association, who have been offered the responsibility to manage the food court at the Mahotsava were shocked to find a number of food stall owners allowing unauthorised vendors to sell various vegetarian and non-vegetarian culinary fare from their stalls.
On a routine inspection, it was found that some Rajasthani food stall owners were allowing sale of Punjabi food through another vendor operating from the same stall.
In the non-vegetarian section, there were food stall owners found subletting space to unauthorised vendors selling kababs and biryanis who failed to get stalls through the lottery system, Rajeshwar Agarwal, Secretary General of Lucknow Hotel & Restaurant Association told HT Lucknow Live.
He said the stall owners adopted the strategy of collecting cash from a single counter for food sold by the unauthorised vendors in the hope of not being found out by the district administration officials.
There were other instances of bottled water being sold by too many vendors at the food court despite a single vendor being authorized to do so at the Mahotasava. The layout of Lucknow Mahotasava had space for just one seller of coconut water, but the association office-bearers were surprised to find an unauthorized vendor selling coconut water near the food court who was later removed from the premises, Agarwal said.
{{/usCountry}}There were other instances of bottled water being sold by too many vendors at the food court despite a single vendor being authorized to do so at the Mahotasava. The layout of Lucknow Mahotasava had space for just one seller of coconut water, but the association office-bearers were surprised to find an unauthorized vendor selling coconut water near the food court who was later removed from the premises, Agarwal said.
{{/usCountry}}Lucknow Divisional Commissioner R K Mittal when contacted expressed his ignorance about the unauthorised food stalls at the Mahotsava venue. “I am not aware of it,” he replied.