Corporator spots lizard in biryani, sends food inspectors to hotel  

HYDERABAD: GHMC Corporator from Ramnagar Division Kuntulur Ravi Kumar had a shock of his life when he found a lizard in his biryani which he had brought home from Bawarchi Restaurant at RTC Cross Roads on Friday. Ravi Kumar noticed the lizard after eating nearly half of the biryani. After his revolting find, he and his brother who shared the biryani with him, threw up. They immediately brought it to the notice of the GHMC and Chikkadpalli police.

Speaking to Express, Ravi Kumar lashed out at the restaurant for serving the biryani with a dead lizard. He also found fault with the civic authorities for not conducting regular inspections of the eateries. “They should conduct inspections at least once a fortnight or in a month so that the unhygienic conditions prevailing in the eateries will be exposed and action can be taken as per the law,” he said.

Based on the complaint, a team of Food Safety Officers of GHMC Circle No.10, 16 and 17 inspected the premises during the afternoon hours where they found food handlers not wearing gloves, hairnets and masks. The floor of the kitchen premises was wet and greasy. The roof turned black with soot. Raw materials were found on the floor of the kitchen while the storage room was dusty and unhygienic.

Further, the sample of prepared chicken biryani containing lizard collected from the complainant and also a sample of the prepared chicken biryani have been collected from the restaurant to be sent to the State Food Laboratory for analysis.

The GHMC officials said that a show-cause notice will be issued to the management of Bawarchi Restaurant. A petition will be filed in the court of the First Metropolitan Magistrate against the management of the restaurant at Nampally under the provisions of HMC byelaws for Regulation of Eating Houses or Hotels, 1973 of GHMC Act, 1955.

If any violation is found on the receipt of analysis reports from the State Food Laboratory, a separate course of action will be initiated under the provisions of FSS Act, 2006 and Rules and Regulations, 2011, the GHMC officials said.Meanwhile, police are also looking into the incident.