Zomato Slapped With Rs 1 Lakh Fine After Chennai Office Found To Be Breeding Ground For Mosquitoes

Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has imposed Rs.1 lakh fine on well-known restaurant rating and food delivery app, Zomato with after the company’s Chennai office was found to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

After the authorities inspected Zomato’s Chetpet office on Friday, October 19 discarded bags used by delivery executives to carry food were found on the terrace of the office. The Corporation officials said that the bags had stagnant rainwater and had become a breeding grounds for dengue-causing Aedes mosquitoes.

The inspection was carried under the dengue-prevention drive of the Tamil Nadu Government. Besides, it has increased its vector control measures, including house visits apart from individual and institution visits. This year, around 3,400 cases of dengue have been recorded from across Tamil Nadu.

P Madhusudhan Reddy, Deputy Commissioner (health), GCC said, “The unused delivery boxes were kept on the terrace of their premises. When our Vector Control Team visited, we found that there was water stagnant in all the bags which became a potential breeding source for mosquitoes.” reported by The News Minute.

In 10 days from October 10 to 18, the GCC has collected a Rs 20 lakh fine from private, public and commercial establishments. Further, a total of 387 offenders have been fined which also includes the Integral Coach Factory.

“We are not leaving anyone. Private, public individual and commercial establishments are checked frequently. We tell them that it is a public health issue. If there’s one place of breeding, those in the 300-metre radius are affected and those in the 500-metre radius are possibly affected. Based on the immunity level, some may or may not contract. But this will spread and we need to be very careful. Our aim is not to generate revenue through this but to create awareness on how mosquito breeding can happen inside our own houses,” said Reddy.

Explaining their routine visit one of the senior officials said, ‘”We received information about a dengue case in the area. We usually climb on top of the tallest building to look into the neighbouring terraces. Zomato had several discarded bags on its rooftop. We have issued a challan for Rs 1 lakh fine”.

Zomato has duly acknowledged the fine and accepted their fault with a promise to make the premises clean.

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