Mid-Day
 
Mumbai, May 2: This city has more than 2,000 stalls selling juices, gola, cut fruit etc.
 
Mumbai’s favourite summer cooler — nimbu pani — will disappear off the face of the city from Tuesday.

Faced with 5,000 cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in civic hospitals every month, the BMC has decided to ban roadside stalls selling not just nimbu pani, but also cut fruit, milkshake and gola. Mumbai has more than 2,000 such stalls spread across 24 municipal wards. 

BMC’s executive health officer, Dr Jayaraj Thanekar, said the goods would be seized and the drive would continue till August.

The BMC’s public health department issued a circular yesterday, directing assistant municipal commissioners of all wards to initiate immediate action against vendors.

Added Thanekar, “Due to water shortage in summers, roadside vendors use water from contaminated sources in their products.”

He said that consuming such products can lead to incidences of diarrhoea, vomiting, gastroenteritis, jaundice, enteric fever (cholera) and other water borne diseases.”

When asked why the decision was taken mid-summer, Thanekar said, “Their business usually soars in summer and to satisfy the demand, they even use hard water (water mixed with chemicals) to satisfy their requirements.” 

Said Sachin Jaiswal (27), a nimbu pani vendor from Lalbaug, “We use water from municipal taps. If the BMC thinks there is a problem in the water we use, they should check their own supply sources. Our stall has been in existence for 23 years now, never have we got a complaint from any of our customers.”

During last year’s floods, water-borne diseases claimed 63 lives in the city. BMC licence superintendent VS Gholap said the communication was yet to reach his office.

Voices

Yeh sab BMC ka naya natak lagta hain. We use water from BMC taps

Naushad Mohammed, (28)
Milkshake vendor, Lalbaug

I get 20 to 25 cases of water-borne diseases every week. Most of them contact the disease while eating and drinking products from vendors. We must get rid of them.

Dr Prakash Kawli
Former president, IMA