BENGALURU: Indira Canteens are staring at a shutdown after Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has cut water supply over non-payment of bills.
Canteen contractors said they have no other option but to bring water in tankers.
Chef Talk Food and Hospitality Services Private Limited head Govinda Pujari said BBMP has not paid bills for more than six months and they are struggling to run the canteens.
There are 193 canteens, including mobile vans, across the city. According to sources, the payment of water bills stopped in April.
“We’ve been requesting BBMP to ask BWSSB to consider the water connections as domestic, but in vain. The bill for a kitchen per month is Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, but if it’s considered as domestic, it would be around Rs 35,000 to Rs 44,000. We’re providing food for the public at a minimal price and the profit is not so huge. The pending bills have gone up to Rs 18 crore,” Pujari said.
Another contractor said there is a deliberate delay in bill payment and also in converting commercial connections into domestic. “In such a situation, it’s better to quit as we must pay lakhs of rupees every day to run the operations by getting water from private tankers,” he said.
BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad told TOI that he was not aware of the issue. “I will look into the matter and clear the pending bills soon.”