Mumbai: The state govt on Thursday issued fresh guidelines for running the Shiv Bhojan scheme across the state. As per the new guidelines, Shiv Bhojan centres will be set up in places where there is high footfall of the poor, labourers and workers, such as near district hospitals, bus stations, railway stations, markets, govt office premises, among others. Shiv Bhojan centres will remain open from 11 AM to 3 PM only, and the operator of the Shiv Bhojan centre will be responsible for providing reserved seats for the beneficiaries of the scheme. Similarly, the guideline states that bringing outside food into the Shiv Bhojan centres or taking food out of the centre is strictly prohibited. Parcel or takeaway facilities will not be provided under the scheme. The guidelines state that govt employees as well as employees of the establishments where this scheme is implemented, will be strictly prohibited from eating at the centre at a discounted rate.“It shall be the responsibility of the organisation to ensure that stale or spoiled food is not served to the customers under any circumstances. The restaurant operator shall ensure that no customer suffers from food poisoning due to consumption of such food. In order to implement the Shiv Bhojan scheme more effectively and to maintain effective control over the functioning of Shiv Bhojan centres, the govt has decided to install CCTV systems in each centre. It will be mandatory to install CCTV systems in every Shiv Bhojan centre,” a govt resolution (GR) issued by the Food and Civil Supplies Department stated.The Shiv Bhojan scheme, launched to provide affordable food to the poor, was suffering a major setback due to financial difficulties. Centre operators say payments have been pending for the past eight months, creating livelihood issues for them. Currently, beneficiaries have to pay Rs 10 for the thali costing Rs 50. The remaining Rs 40 is paid by the state govt to the centre operator.A total of 2,281 Shiv Bhojan Thali centres were started.“If there are irregularities of a very serious nature, like serving stale/poor quality food, uploading duplicate photos, or running the Shiv Bhojan centre through another person, then action should be taken to immediately suspend the Shiv Bhojan centre and cancel the centre’s approval. If there are serious irregularities like closing the Shiv Bhojan centre without prior notice, not providing food as per Shiv Bhojan norms, or not operating CCTV, then at least one day’s full amount of the number of plates per day or Rs. 5000/- should be recovered as penalty,” the GR stated.“If there are irregularities of a very serious nature, like serving stale/poor quality food, uploading duplicate photos, running the Shiv Bhojan center through another person then action should be taken to immediately suspend the Shiv Bhojan center and cancel the approval of the centre. If there are serious irregularities like closing the Shiv Bhojan center without prior notice, not providing food as per Shiv Bhojan norms, not operating CCTV, then at least one day’s full amount of the number of plates per day or Rs. 5000/- showed be recovered as penalty,” the GR stated.
