Don’t wash utensils, lunch boxes in the complex: Parliament's unusual order to employees

New Delhi, Oct 22: Several employees of the Parliament, who bring lunch from home now face an unusual problem. They are not allowed to clean their utensils and lunch boxes in the Parliament complex anymore.

An internal circular issued by Lok Sabha secretariat on Wednesday said that the authority has taken "a serious view" of the issue.

"It has been observed that the officers and staff are washing utensils and lunch boxes in the washrooms of Parliament House Complex," the circular said.

"This, apart from resulting into blockage of drainage system and causing inconvenience to the users, also causes deterioration in the standard of overall cleanliness and hygiene," it added.

It can be seen that several employees of the Parliament are now bringing lunch from home as the canteens have stopped serving food as part of the measures to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The canteens, earlier run by northern railways, were barred from cooking as the authorities wanted to avoid crowds. Even as the canteens continue to serve tea and snacks, officials are left with little option but to bring food from home.

The Indian Parliament has more than 2,000 officials and staff and 1,000 security personnel. An internal report of the canteen committee of parliament showed that the staff and the security personnel, not the MPs, mostly eat in the canteen.