Indian Coffee House (ICH) officials are embarking on a frantic drive to keep out rats from invading its Thampanoor outlet, which functions in a Laurie Baker-designed cylindrical building and was shut down by food officials on Saturday citing poor hygiene.
ICH officials admitted that rats were a problem here, but blamed a nearby drain as the source of their current travails. ‘’We had issued a quotation from our Thrissur head office to take up the necessary work. We require only three days for it. Once before, the staff there tried to block the entry of rodents by cementing up the area, but the rats were still entering,’’ ICH Society secretary V V Varghese said.
Now ICH is planning to use iron sheets to shut out rats, making a beeline for the kitchen from the drain. According to ICH officials, the design and age of this red-brick structure, which is under the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco), do not offer much scope for additional constructions or modifications.
The ICH outlet at Thampanoor, easily the busiest of the outlets in the district due to its proximity to the bus stand and the railway station, had been slapped with an improvement notice earlier also.
Much to the dismay of the chain, once known for the good quality of food, the current action has come barely a month after a meeting of senior managers and branch managers was convened last month in Kochi in view of the raids being taken out by food officials in restaurants.
Continuing its inspection of hotels and restaurants in the city, the office of the Food Safety Commissioner had shut down the ICH at Thampanoor and the Mubaraq restaurant at Chalai citing poor hygiene.
Comments
0 comment