On 12th March, a huge crowd gathered outside Azebo Bukhari Mandi Hotel in the Malakpet police station area in Hyderabad to get their hands on free haleem offered by the hotel for one hour on the first day of Ramzan, a Muslim festival. The crowd led to a traffic jam and police were called to disperse the crowd.
However, the crowd did not pay heed to the request by the Malakpet police officials who reached the scene and eventually the police resorted to lathi-charge to clear the area. Furthermore, the hotel also stopped giving free haleem as the situation turned uncontrollable.
Haleem is a mutton stew mixed with lentils, wheat and spices. The ingredients are slowly cooked on low flame for hours in Ghee which turns them into a thick paste. It is usually made during Ramzan.
Mismanaged PR for ‘free haleem’ offer
According to Navbharat Times, Azebo Hotel’s PR team ran a campaign to inform the customers about the free haleem offer on the first day of Ramzan. They included a large number of food bloggers from the city in their campaign. The information about the offer went viral on social media platforms leading to a large crowd reaching out to the hotel for their share of free haleem. Amidst all the ‘well-planned’ PR campaign, the Hotel management apparently forgot to inform the police and get permission to organise such an event which led to traffic jams and chaos.
Speaking to Times of India, Malakpet inspector U Srinivas said, “The hotel management did not inform or take prior permission to distribute free haleem. A case will be registered [against the hotel] for causing disturbance to free movement of the traffic.”
A case has already been filed against the hotel owner in the matter.