Varanasi : It is pleasant to see a properly dressed street food vendor serving food to people in hygienic condition on the roadside. A transformation in street food vending is in process in the city after 100 local street food vendors were trained under ‘Clean Street Food’ project in the first phase. The Union minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) Rajiv Pratap Rudy also tested Banarasi street food recently during his visit to the city.
“We were trained to maintain proper hygiene and cleanliness while making and serving food to customers. The result is encouraging, the number of customers is increasing at my food stall,” said a street food vendor Shashi Gupta, who sales chaat in Englishiya Line area. He also received a new ‘thela’ (cart) and ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’ (RPL) certificate under Skill India programme at the ‘Kaushal Mahotsava 2016’ (skill festival) organized at the cultural complex, Chowdaghat on October 21.
Besides him, 19 other food vendors had also taken part in the festival that was attended by Rudy. “We offered him Banarasi chaat,” said Gupta. Cash awards of Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5000 were also given to a fruit vendor Paras Sonkar, and a Paanwalah (betel seller) Ravi respectively at the function. He said that 100 street food vendors were given training under the clean street food project.
In order to express their joy for being a part of Skill India programme, they under the banner of Feri Patri Thela Vhavasayi Samiti took out a procession on Tuesday. They also distributed sweets among themselves. “We are happy that the street food vendors have been included in Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) under which the vendors were trained at different food processing training centres,” said the secretary of the organization Pramod Kumar Nigam. According to him, there are around 5000 street food vendors in Varanasi. The training programme will be held on regular basis at four or five centres.
To rediscover country’s rich tradition of street food the ‘Clean Street Food’ project was launched in March in New Delhi with an aim to raise the safety standards of foods sold on streets by training 20,000 roadside vendors in national capital on aspects of health and hygiene, in the first phase. As a part of the project the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) partners with the ministry of skill development & entrepreneurship to train street food vendors.
According to a report of FSSAI, there has been no census of street food vendors in the country. The union ministry of urban poverty alleviation has estimated that there are about 100 lakh street vendors in the country. About 20% of them (20 lakh) are expected to be street food vendors. The project aims to provide universal coverage of all estimated street food vendors in the country. In Phase I two lakh street food vendors in identified areas would be taken. These would include all metropolitan and major cities in the country, places of pilgrimage and tourist attraction. The National Skill Development Corporation, ministry of skill development & entrepreneurship is the training provider under the project, while the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) has been engaged in mobilization of street vendors.
Street food often reflects traditional local cultures and exists in an endless variety. The present condition in which most of the street food vendors cook and sale are unsuitable .The place is not clean, well lit and far from source of contamination. Most of the street food vendors do not practice hygienic method of covering food and water. Food is exposed to flies, birds, rodents, which may cause food borne pathogens. Street food vendors also lack proper food handling and waste disposal training.
Under the clean street food project the vendors are given safety tips like maintaining personal hygiene, use of safe drinking water, protection of food from pests and dust, use clean utensils, proper disposal of waste, and keeping place clean.
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