Bhubaneswar, March 16: The municipal corporation will form at least four squads to check the quality of water at roadside kiosks, keeping in mind the outbreak of jaundice in various parts of the state and to prevent it from spreading here.

Of late, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has started taking steps such as educating the roadside vendors to use gloves and masks and follow sanitary procedures. Though the lone squad of the civic body has been conducting raids on roadside shops, the need for more teams has been felt.

"We have only one food inspector and one squad to check the quality of food items in the city. Though it is not enough to cover all the areas and provide continuous service to the people, we have been trying our best. We are planning to send a proposal to the corporation to have four such squads to make it easier to cover the entire city," said city health officer C.P. Das.

At present, around 11 sanitary inspectors, along with the food inspector, conduct raids on the kiosks. An official said more food inspector and dedicated staff members would help in keeping tabs on roadside dhabas, hotels and kiosks selling dahibara, gupchup, ice cream, lassi and juice.

A few days ago, mayor Ananta Narayan Jena had decided to go to the vendors and convince them to use gloves and masks while on the job. Though he had distributed a few sets of gloves and masks to some vendors and instructed them to follow the safety procedures in the market building area, none of the shop owners paid any heed to the mayor's instructions.

"I personally told the vendors to follow the cleanliness procedures and warned them of action if they did not follow them," said Jena. He, however, said the city health office would carry out drives to take action against the violators.

The mayor also said he would look into the matter of requirement of more food inspector for better checking of food and water quality at the roadside kiosks.

Only yesterday, he had checked the quality of food at Baramunda Bus Stand to ensure that the eateries here followed proper sanitation methods and kept the surroundings hygienic. The food-quality checking squad of the city health office also accompanied him.

Residents, however, reacted sharply at the mayor's initiative, terming it as an attempt to draw the people's attention and remain in the news. "Had he been really interested, he could have taken the steps much earlier," said a resident.

"Besides, there are no actions taken against people who do not follow his words. The mayor should also try to raise the infrastructure and include more personnel for better quality checking," said Unit-II resident Sudarshan Maharana.