Rat in food: BBMP says ward office was 'full of rodents'

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has ordered an enquiry into how a rat made its way into the midday meal served to pourakarmikas (civic workers) at the Ramamandira ward office in Rajajinagar on Tuesday.

Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner (Health), BBMP, said the room where the midday meal was kept was “full of rats”. “The lid of the food container could have been open, making it easy for the rat to sneak in,” he added.

But the BJP corporator from Ramamandira ward, Deepa Nagesh, rubbished Khan’s claim. She said the food containers brought to her ward office were “not open by any chance”. “It wasn’t a rat. It was a big bandicoot. The lid was not open by any chance. The moment it was opened, the first thing we saw was this dead creature,” she said.

The news spread like wildfire across the city, and pourakarmikas consigned the food to the sewers. The corporator accused the BBMP of apathy. “Many pourakarmikas had taken ill earlier. An enquiry revealed traces of E coli in the food served to them. Now, we have found rat. Why is the BBMP still in the denial,” she asked.