IIT-B canteen to ban non-vegetarian food

A few days after the hostel council at one of the hostels of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) asked non-vegetarian students to use ‘separate plates to eat non-veg’ citing complaints from some vegetarians, a department canteen has now issued a recommendation to ban non-veg food in its canteen. 

The canteen committee at the Civil Engineering cafeteria at the institute has  proposed an amendment in the ongoing cafe contract with the agency that has been assigned the contract for supplying food.  

A part of the amendment states that ‘non-veg items are strictly banned and should not be served’. 

A copy of the proposed amendments that has been doing the rounds on social media states that the ammendment is proposed after ‘some people raised objections in serving non-veg food including egg items’. The document also mentions a ban on lunch and dinner parties conducted at the cafe during late evening. 

Several students took to social networking sites on Saturday condemning the change. “the civil canteen is frequented by several non vegetarians as it serves chicken rolls and sandwiches. Such a ban is a systematic attempt to eliminate non vegetarian food from the campus “ said an MTech student. 

A spokesperson from IIT-B  however said that the intention behind the document was to ensure that no cooked food is served in the cafe. “ As a policy, the institute doesn’t allow cafes within its premise to serve food that is cooked or heated and only allows them to provide dry snacks like chips and biscuits. The canteen used to serve rolls, sandwiches etc which in many cases were not fresh and made somewhere else. To avoid the risk of food poisoning, we have asked them to stop what they were serving. There is no issue of veg-non-veg here,” added the spokesperson.