Hotels booked by SCB reopen

The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has booked 22 hotels and sweet shops for maintaining poor standards. With the exception of Pakwan Hotel at Bowenpally, all the others have opened after paying a fine.

No case has been filed against any establishment nor has a bacteriacontamination test been ordered, even though stale, unstamped meat has been detected and poor hygiene conditions have been observed.

The SCB’s health wing made surprise checks on hotels a week before Diwali in 2016, and within seven days, six hotels were booked including Agra Sweets and Delhi 9. Later the list was expanded to include Mother India Hotel at Diamond Point, Grill 9 in Karkhana, Raghvendra Bakery in Lal Bazaar, and Saba Hotel in Trimulgherry.

One restaurant in Tadbund was sealed because an unclean toilet was found adjacent to the kitchen, with no partition separating the two areas. Some had no exhaust fans, the kitchen was stinking, and the walls were covered with oily soot.

The owner of a hotel in New Bowenpally had allowed 23 workers to live in a small room attached to the kitchen-cum-storeroom. Pests were found in many kitchens.

Despite such grave sanitation violations, SCB officials merely handed out a list of corrective measures the establishment must take, levied a fine and allowed the establishments to open after a week.

The second round of inspection was not carried out at many of the outlets which had reopened after paying a fine.