We must protect Mumbai's job creators from the radical agenda of basic sanitation
BY: @op_ed_politics2 HOURS AGO
Food inspector Tukaram Mundhe’s surprise kitchen raids are being hailed as a triumph for public health, but what we keep missing is the devastating toll this regulatory overreach is taking on the city's job creators.
Last week, I was enjoying a perfectly serviceable mutton rogan josh at a private club in South Mumbai when the dining room doors were violently kicked open by Tukaram Mundhe and his squad of sanitation zealots. They bypassed the maître d' entirely and marched straight into the kitchen, where they immediately began citing the head chef for the supposed crime of storing raw poultry in a warm bucket next to the mop water. I sat there in stunned silence, watching a vibrant, unregulated culinary tradition being crushed under the boot of a government clipboard.
The economic toll of this crusade is already devastating. I recently sat down for an off-the-record briefing with several executives from a Bandra hospitality conglomerate at the Taj Mahal Palace, and the mood was incredibly grim. Over imported truffles, they explained that if they are suddenly forced by the state to scrub the black mold out of their walk-in freezers, the staggering compliance costs will inevitably be passed down to the consumer. Are you, the working-class diner, prepared to pay an extra fifty rupees for your street food just so an unelected inspector can feel good about an arbitrary internal cooking temperature?
