Several media houses reported about a notice issued by the IIT-Bombay civil engineering department to the contractor running a roof top cafeteria in its department. The notice issued on 20th January reportedly said that ‘non-vegetarian food is strictly banned and should not be served.’ The notice had also restricted the entry of students belonging to other departments of the institute.
Times Now ran a story with the hashtag #SanskariIITB. It also commented ‘Freedom of choice shrinking’ on its screen.
#SanskariIIT: IIT Bombay bans non-veg food in cafeteria @Kajal_Iyer shares details with @HeenaGambhir pic.twitter.com/Iqru74xDmE
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 4, 2018
However, this turned out to be yet another case of media ‘hype’ over a trivial and routine decision that was taken by the IITB administration for valid reasons. IITB issued the following clarification regarding the incident :
IIT Bombay clarifies that the Institute has not banned non-veg food in the campus, as reported by few publications. A letter was issued to the caterer of a cafeteria atop Civil Engineering Dept. for purely health & safety reasons as he was serving stale food: Statement by IIT PRO
— ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2018
The spokesperson of IITB told that the decisions were taken in the wake of Kamala Mills fire incident and health reasons. Cooking had been banned on the rooftop cafetaria of the department after the unfortunate incident of fire in a rooftop pub at Kamla Mills. The spokesperson said that some of the students had complained of food poisoning as well.
A similar controversy was raked up on social media over another notice by IIT-Bombay recent, which had asked mess staff to separate plates used for serving veg and non-veg food. Some journalists even brought ‘casteism‘ into it.
Social media reacted to such ridiculous reports after the IIT-Bombay spokesperson clarified the rationale behind the decision:
I think this news about IITB banning non-veg food was circulated at least two weeks back. IITB should be able to clarify on such rumours within a day maximum. Must get dynamic in tune with the time. @iitbombay https://t.co/MU9UIPioFJ
— Shailendra Marathe (@maratheshail) February 4, 2018
Times are bad Lyuten’s ecosystem can twist anything to divide the society & bring chaos. https://t.co/3wB3so2AKH
— Ramesh Ash kumar (@Wah_food) February 4, 2018
Coupta Peddled lies called it Food Casteism. What a Shameless news trader Coupta is and will continue to be so. https://t.co/DMAZYCPXya
— Krishna Negi (@kcsnegi) February 4, 2018
