Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Vadodara has been hit with a pani puri crisis, not because vendors ran out of pani or puri, but because the Vadodara Municipal Corporation decided for the rest of the city that eating the street snack could result in stomach infections and forced vendors to shut down business.
Towards the end of July, officials from the civic body’s health department conducted numerous raids on several locations across the city and destroyed tens of thousands of puri packets, stale raw materials such as chick peas and potatoes and told pani puri vendors to stay off the roads till the rains end.
Yet there are some who are brave enough to sell pani puri to intrepid foodies with guts of steel in spite of a so-called ban imposed by the VMC.
Is It a Blanket Ban?
On 28 July, as per instructions given by Health Officer of VMC, Mukesh Vaidya, eight teams from the health department cracked down on pani puri vendors across the city and destroyed over 4,000 kgs of food items. Calling it a temporary ban, Vaidya told the press that a rising number of vomiting and diarrhoea cases were being reported from the old city area. In order to curb a further rise in such maladies, the VMC had to step in.
But when The Quint spoke to Vaidya on Thursday, 2 August, he said, “We have not placed any ban as such. We are only going after those chaat vendors who are selling stale food items. If the food being sold is clean we will not close the shop. This measure was brought in to control the cholera outbreak.”
In the earlier weeks of July, heavy rains had inundated Vadodara and cases of cholera were on the rise.
Pani Puri Still Being Sold
Although the VMC has advised citizens to stay off street food, especially pani puri, the snack is still available at certain locations in the city. Major farsan outlets in the city are still selling pani puri, while keeping a check on the quality of food.
Deepak Karadia, the store manager of Jagdish Farsan in Manjhalpur area of the city told The Quint, “Yes we had stopped selling pani puri for a week. But we started it again. We asked for public feedback as well, whether they liked the quality and whether or not they found it better than the pani puri sold on the street. So far the response has been positive.”
Another chaat vendor, Deepak Patel said, “We sell dahi puri, sev puri, papdi chat. We stopped selling pani puri after our seth told us not to. The VMC didn’t stop us from selling, neither do we sell adulterated goods. There are many who add colour to the pani puri water or add ice to it which could be made from contaminated water.”
Barodians Love their Pani Puri
In spite of the ban there are pani puri vendors selling chaat and people relishing it on the streets. According to the pani puri vendors, they have been now told to ensure that the quality of the snack is maintained.
Chirag Shah, who works with a private firm spoke to The Quint and said, “I have been eating this snack for three years, I have never fell sick. Yes the rains were heavy last month but that is no reason to ban all pani puri in the city. You can always check for quality.”
Sonu Sheth, a home maker, claims that she never fell sick because of the street food, “many times our dinner gets delayed, so the family steps out to eat pani puri. This keeps a check on our immediate hunger.”
Although some pani puri vendors are risking their livelihood by selling openly on the streets, the confidence that Barodians have on their chaat vendors helps them continue business without fear.
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