Siliguri, Jan. 10: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation has been conducting raids to find out whether the owners of eateries here have the licence to run the shops.

Raids were conducted in several food joints on Hill Cart Road, Sevoke Road and Bidhan Road, on Thursday and Friday.

“During the raids, we found several irregularities in the restaurants and sweets shops here. Some of the owners do not have a food licence and most of them who have it, have not got it renewed,” one of the food inspectors of the SMC said.

Having a food licence, issued by the civic body, is mandatory to run an eatery in the SMC area. “We have also noticed that most of the shops do not have a clean kitchen and a proper source of fresh drinking water,” the official said.

Last week, around 40 shops were raided and a seven-day notice has been served to around 20 shopowners who could not produce a licence or had not renewed it. A food licence has be renewed every year.

“The decision to conduct such raids was taken at the monthly board meeting on December 25,” Sujay Ghatak, member, mayor-in-council (conservancy) of the SMC said.

“Running an eatery without necessary permission from the SMC is an offence and an owner without proper licence can be imprisoned for up to three months. The shop can be sealed by the civic authority. We are trying to find out the number of shops with such irregularities. We are also sending a seven-day notice to the owners to take necessary steps,” Ghatak said.