Fraser Town’s famed food mela during the month of Ramzan has met with stiff opposition from residents. They have approached the local MLA seeking a ban on setting up of stalls during the holy month, slated to start in the second week of March this year.
Every year, Mosque Road and MM Road turn into foodie’s haven with hundreds of stalls offering delicacies, including haleem, biryanis and a variety of kabab’s.
However, residents say the mela is a nightmare for them as thousands descend on the locality and the feasting goes on sometimes early into the morning, leaving behind a trail of smelly garbage.
About 2,500 residents under the leadership of Fraser Town Resident’s Welfare Association (FTRWA) submitted a petition to MLA AC Shrinivasa. The residents claimed the food mela is held with no quality-control methods, the vendors have no license to conduct the business and stalls are haphazardly put up on footpaths and the roads resulting in chaos, litter and huge traffic jams. Further, the business goes on beyond permissible hours. The petition alleged that unhygienic practices have led to increase in gastro-enteritis cases every year, traffic jams through the day. The mela has resulted in consumption of alcohol on the streets and bottles are strewn around. There have been security issues, including harassment of women and street fights, the residents told the MLA.
FTRWA said there is a huge increase in pollution levels, especially of carbon monoxide, due to charcoal used for cooking. The sound pollution has led to issues like high blood pressure, hearing loss and sleep disruption for locals, the petition said.
