Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday said that a clear message will be sent across and plastic will be banned in the food making process, PTI reported.
“If someone is doing it then it should be brought to our notice,” the minister said.
As per PTI, this move comes after the minister alleged that the Food Safety Department of Karnataka found that around 52 hotels were using polythene sheets in order to prepare Idli.
According to him, polythene, especially the thin sheets, are carcinogenic and the state government will not allow such practices in the hotel industry.
“The Food Safety department had collected Idli samples at 251 places across Karnataka. Earlier clothes were used for cooking Idlis but we got the information that recently the hotels have started using plastic. So our officers went to various spots and conducted an inquiry,” Rao told ANI reporters.
Out of 251 hotels, 52 of them were found using plastic, the minister said adding, “The hoteliers should have never done it because plastic is carcinogenic, which means that it can cause cancer. Those carcinogenic elements can enter Idli.”
Maharashtra suspends state transport buses to Karnataka after attack on driver
Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has directed the suspension of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus services to Karnataka following an attack on a bus and its driver in Chitradurga. The suspension will remain in place until the Karnataka government clarifies its stance on the matter, PTI reports.
According to PTI, the incident occurred on Friday night when an MSRTC bus, travelling from Bengaluru to Mumbai, was targeted by pro-Kannada activists in Chitradurga around 9:10 pm. The assailants allegedly blackened the face of driver Bhaskar Jadhav before physically assaulting him. A case has been registered with the Karnataka police in connection with the attack, PTI states.
Minister Sarnaik confirmed the suspension of MSRTC services, declaring that unless Karnataka authorities take a clear stand and engage in discussions with Maharashtra, bus operations will not resume. “Bus services to Karnataka won’t be resumed unless the Karnataka government makes its stand clear on the issue,” Sarnaik stated.
Meanwhile, on the same day, a Karnataka state transport bus conductor was allegedly assaulted near Belagavi for not responding to a girl in Marathi. It remains unclear whether the attack on the MSRTC bus in Chitradurga was a retaliatory act, PTI reports.
(With PTI inputs)
Leave a Reply