Anantapur: Highway dhabas take travellers for a ride

Anantapur: Substandard quality food, exorbitant prices and even rude behaviour from hoteliers and workers – these are the common complaints from the travellers on national highway-44, Hyderabad-Bengaluru road.

As per the government rule, the hoteliers should provide a menu with food items and their prices. However, this is not duly implemented.

Most of the travellers complain that they have no choice when it comes to hotels and they are forced to pay high price for low quality food, which could even stale sometimes.

Rajkumar, who was travelling from Hyderabad to Coimbatore, went to a hotel at Gooty in the district to have lunch. He said that he paid high price for low quality food adding that he had no other choice.

Another traveller, Ganesh Iyyer also had a similar story to share, lamenting that he had to shed more amount for low quality food.

On the other hand, the hoteliers admitted that the prices are a bit high in their hotels near the highway as they are obliged to pay some benefits to the bus drivers, along with free meals to drivers and helpers as well.

People criticise that the district administration and District Small and Food Inspectors are not inspecting the hotels along the highway in Anantapur and Kurnool districts, regularly. The authorities concerned are not checking hotels and eating joints in Kurnool, Dhone, Gooty, Anantapur and nearby locations.

Another thing is that these hoteliers do not provide free purified drinking water to the customers, forcing them to buy packaged drinking water.

The Municipal Administration and Urban Development and Civil Supplies department should issue orders and make it mandatory for all hotels, restaurants, fast food centres and street vendors to provide free purified drinking water to the customers. If packaged bottled water is supplied, the management should only charge the maximum retail price (MRP) printed on the lable. A toll-free number should be provided to the customers for raising complaints.

British enacted law in 1800, which is still in vogue, which makes it mandatory for all highway hotels to provide washroom facilities to the travellers and allow them to drink purified drinking water free of cost.