No ‘rotis with spit’ or ‘Hapur-wala juice’: CM Yogi Adityanath inaugurates floating restaurant

At least people will not be served “rotis with spit” or “Hapur-wala juice” here, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Thursday while inaugurating a floating restaurant in the Ramgarh Tal.

He was referring to recent food safety controversies in the state, including vendors allegedly spitting on food or mixing urine in fruit juice.

“It is good that people here will at least not be served Hapur-wala juice or rotis with spit. Whatever served here will be pure,” Adityanath said.

The floating restaurant, named Float, spans 9,600 square feet and features a modern design with three floors. It can host between 100 and 150 visitors at a time. Construction began on August 17, 2022, and it is now open to the public, offering what the government assures will be pure and hygienic dining experiences.

A viral video showed a teenager in Saharanpur allegedly spitting on rotis, which led to the arrest of the eatery’s owner. Last week, a juice vendor in Ghaziabad was also arrested for allegedly mixing urine in the juices he served.

Similar incidents have surfaced in Noida, where two men were detained for contaminating juice with their spit earlier this year.

Earlier this year, the state government introduced regulations requiring food vendors, especially along the Kanwar Yatra route, to display their names. While the directive faced some criticism, the government said it aimed to ensure transparency and allow customers to make informed choices about the food they consume.

The Supreme Court, however, stayed the directives issued by the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh that mandated eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names, addresses and mobile numbers of their owners and staff.

The court also clarified that its order would not prevent any shopkeeper from voluntarily displaying the information.

“Our order does not stop anybody from disclosing their names and identities. We are only saying that they should not be forced to do it,” said a bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti while refusing to entertain several applications filed by Kanwar Yatra pilgrims who supported the directives by claiming that it protected their religious customs.