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.
https://twitter.com/TimesNow/status/959992448977051648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
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 :
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/960002255863844864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
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:
https://twitter.com/maratheshail/status/960008884785205249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Wah_food/status/960015432005636096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/kcsnegi/status/960007360478662658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw