Ahmedabad: The 2026-27 municipal budget discussion came with an unexpected side dish: the entire food inspection machinery was temporarily redeployed to attend to chai-biscuit and sing-chana being served to councillors, instead of conducting hygiene and food safety checks in the city.On Thursday, as the two-day general board meeting of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) began, 18 health department employees, including all 15 food inspectors, were reassigned from citywide food checks to supervise tea, coffee and snacks for 192 councillors. From 9am until the meeting wrapped up around 10pm, inspectors were stationed floorwise at the AMC headquarters, ensuring the refreshments passed muster. Meanwhile, food inspections in the city were paused.
For the record, Ahmedabad spans 480 sq km and 48 wards. It has just 15 working food inspectors. That is not one per ward, not even close. On regular days, they are meant to inspect hotels, restaurants and food units, collect samples, process licences and respond to complaints. On Thursday, however, their jurisdiction shrank to supervising trays of biscuits, packets of sing-chana, chocolates and kettles of chai served to the councillors.The irony is seasoned further by staffing gaps. Nearly a year ago, AMC announced the recruitment of 45 additional food inspectors. The hiring process is still on. This increased the workload on the current food inspectors.An external agency had already been contracted to supply and serve tea and refreshments during the meeting. But oversight, it appears, is a dish best served with official supervision. Outside, food establishments carried on. And as one senior AMC official dryly noted, “it remains unclear who is available to respond to public complaints about food quality on Thursday and Friday”.
