Mangaluru City Corporation team raids matka soda stall; seizes items

A video, allegedly shot by a customer, showed a lack of cleanliness in the process of preparing the soft drink. The earthen pots used for serving the matka soda were washed in the same bucket of water till late in the night.

Mangaluru: After a video on the lack of cleanliness in a matka soda stall near Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Temple during Dasara went viral on social media, Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) officials carried out inspections of roadside vendors selling eatables at Kudroli and Mangaladevi Temple.

The video, allegedly shot by a customer, showed a lack of cleanliness in the process of preparing the soft drink. The earthen pots used for serving the matka soda were washed in the same bucket of water till late in the night.

Soon after the video went viral and netizens demanded action against such unhygienic food stalls, MCC officials acted by carrying out an inspection of the stalls. The Matka soda shop, which was functioning near Kudroli Temple, was raided and closed after seizing all items.

“The team inspected stalls selling potato twister, lime soda, gobi manchurian, sugarcane juice and other items in the temple premises and warned them not to violate norms,” Environmental engineer in-charge Sushanth K said. Stating that the raid was conducted on the directions of MCC commissioner Anand C L, he added that the sellers were issued a strict warning to ensure cleanliness while preparing eatables.

“In fact, the stall shown in the video was availed through auction by a woman from Bengaluru and she in turn rented it out to another person,” he said.

Inspections were carried out by MCC officials Deepika, Ashwini, Arun, Sajith and Bhaskar.