The Bengaluru South City Corporation has ordered action against Rewards agency, the food supplier at the Indira Canteen in Jayanagar Public Hospital, after an inspection found that the prescribed menu had not been followed for four to five days.
Commissioner K.N. Ramesh directed officials to issue a notice and impose the maximum penalty on the agency for repeatedly violating the menu. During a surprise inspection at the canteen in Pattabhiramanagar ward on Saturday, he found that the supplier had provided only bisi bele bath instead of the scheduled rice, sambar, palya and payasa.
Officials said the missing food would be accounted for by deducting its cost from the agency’s bills. The commissioner also ordered that the penalty be imposed because the menu violation was considered a repeated issue rather than a one-time lapse.
The inspection also covered the canteen’s complaint register, which contained complaints about food quality and cleanliness. The findings place the supplier’s menu compliance alongside broader concerns about the day-to-day management of a public food outlet used by residents seeking affordable meals.
Mr. Ramesh pulled up the canteen supervisors over the way complaints were being reported. According to the report, supervisors had informed senior officials about complaints through text messages instead of submitting written reports. The commissioner said written reporting was necessary so that complaints could be formally recorded and action could be taken.
The episode highlights the role of inspection and record-keeping in monitoring outsourced civic services. While the supplier is responsible for preparing and serving the prescribed meals, canteen supervisors are expected to document complaints and escalate them through an official reporting process. In this case, the inspection identified both a service-level violation and a weakness in the complaint-reporting procedure.
The Indira Canteen at Jayanagar Public Hospital is among the civic food outlets where adherence to the notified menu is part of the service requirement. The order against Rewards agency is expected to proceed through the notice and penalty process directed by the commissioner. The corporation’s immediate steps are to recover the cost of the missing food, issue the notice and impose the maximum applicable penalty for the repeated violations.
