There is probably no better way to experience the soul of a place than through its food.

The city’s maiden street food fair organised by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) kicked off at Morabadi grounds on Friday.

The fair, which was inaugurated by urban development minister C.P. Singh along with deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya and BJP MLA Jitucharan Ram, has 80 stalls selling some of the best street food that the city has to offer.

From litti-chokha to bhelpuri, batatapuri to samosa chaat, the stalls were abuzz with activity throughout the day as more than 2,000 foodies spent hours gorging on the delicacies.

The fair is part of the Shehri Samridhi Utsav (SSV) which is aimed at extending the outreach of the Deendayal Antyodaya Mission – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) to the most vulnerable.

“The civic body will identify seven places across the state capital where street food vendors can set up shops to run their business. The state government is working on a plan to provide facilities and training to food vendors to increase their earnings,” Singh said.

“Four districts - Ranchi, Dhanbad, Dumka and East Singhbhum – were selected for the SSV scheme with the state capital being the first to organise the event. Through this programme, we will address the livelihood concerns of urban street vendors by facilitating them with suitable space, institutional credit, and social security and skills for accessing emerging market opportunities,” the deputy mayor said.

“At the fair, we have provided the vendors with aprons and other facilities. From next year, we will hold the fair on a large scale. The civic body has worked out a plan to provide them training on a regular basis,” he added.

“In 2016, the civic body had conducted a survey of street vendors. As per our records, there are around 6,000 street vendors out of which 1,800 are street food vendors. Our aim is to help them expand and organise their business,” he said.

Urban development minister CP Singh (in blue bundi) along with mayor Asha Lakra, deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya and Kanke MLA Jitu Charan Ram at the inauguration of the three-day festival. Picture by Manob Chowdhary