Bengaluru’s Indira Canteen at the Jayanagar Public Hospital campus has been found serving food that did not match the prescribed menu, while complaints about food quality, cleanliness and sewage overflow remained unresolved, prompting the city civic commissioner to order a notice and maximum penalty against the contractor.
South City civic commissioner K.N. Ramesh inspected the canteen in the Pattabhinagar ward area during a surprise visit on Saturday. He reviewed the quality of food, cleanliness, stock and the arrangements for distributing meals to members of the public.
According to the report, the scheduled menu for Saturday included rice, sambar, a vegetable dish and payasam. However, the contractor, Rewards, had supplied only bisi bele bath. The commissioner was informed that the prescribed menu had allegedly been violated in the same manner for four to five days.
Ramesh directed officials to issue a notice to the contracting agency and impose the maximum penalty permitted. He also ordered that the bill amount be reduced in proportion to the quantity of food that had not been supplied. The directions link payment to the actual delivery of the contracted menu, rather than allowing the full bill to be processed despite the shortfall.
The inspection also covered complaints recorded by people visiting the canteen. Members of the public had entered grievances in the complaint book regarding food quality and cleanliness. The commissioner criticised the canteen supervisor for failing to submit a written report to senior officials and for relying only on a mobile message after receiving the complaints.
Ramesh contacted civic health officials from the site and instructed them to take immediate action against those responsible for addressing the complaints. The episode places attention on the supervisory chain behind municipal food services: complaints recorded at the facility must be formally escalated, investigated and linked to corrective action.
A separate sanitation problem was found within the canteen premises, where sewage water was overflowing. Because the facility is located on a hospital campus and is used by patients and other visitors, the commissioner directed the concerned engineer to resolve the drainage problem immediately in the interest of public health.
The inspection brings together two operational failures at a public food facility: non-delivery of the contracted menu and an unresolved drainage issue. It also raises questions about how frequently canteen supplies, hygiene conditions and complaint registers are checked between formal inspections. The immediate actions announced by the civic administration are the contractor’s notice, a possible maximum penalty, deductions from the bill and repairs to the drainage system.
