Ministry Suddenly Goes Berserk
Original headline published in paper: Stiff guidelines leave small eateries reeling
Arjun Thapa, a Nepali, sitting inside his Al-Khubara restaurant in the Shara Kharaba area, has his eyes glued to Page 5 of the local newspaper. He looks shocked.
Thapa, 31, who bought the restaurant just one month ago, is staring at the half-page announcement by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, which has given restaurant, cafeteria and juice shop owners till October 1, 2005 to change their shops' conditions as per the guidelines stated in the notice, else face "closure."
"What will I do?" Thapa nervously asks.
Since 1996, when he landed in Doha, he has collected "penny by penny, QR 40,000" to purchase his restaurant.
"If they close it down then?" Thapa asks again. Maybe he's hoping for a consoling reply. Even if it comes from his cook, or a regular customer standing beside him.
"Call your sponsor, no?" replies Anupam, 27, a Karwa taxi driver and regular at Thapa's outlet.
Arjun does so. The sponsor on the phone tells Thapa "not to worry, nothing will happen."
That's some consolation for Thapa, as he turns his eyes back to the ministry's announcement. With his finger following the text, he re-reads it word-for-word.
In the advertisement, the ministry states that restaurants must be a minimum of 64sq m in total size, cafeterias must be 25sq m, while juice stalls 20sq m.
Every restaurant, cafeteria or juice shop must be in a "good location, and near the common drainage network."
"The building must be free of cracks, properly ventilated, have adequate natural and artificial lighting, and be equipped with a system to maintain comfortable internal temperature."
All windows must be "covered with screens, and all doors must be equipped with self-closing mechanisms."
Moreover, the ministry wants the walls and flooring of the kitchen and toilet to be "fully tiled".
The kitchen should have "stainless steel tables with marble countertops for sanitation purposes, a stainless steel basin, equipped with both hot and cold water taps."
Also, it says, there should be "separate" refrigerators to store cooked food and uncooked items, and if there is a gas stove, which is obvious in a restaurant, there "must be a chimney installed extending at least 2m from the roof."
While these guidelines make complete sense to hygiene-conscious customers, small restaurant and cafeteria owners believe it is "impossible" to meet the ministry's deadline of October 1, which is less than two months away.
"What they (the ministry) have demanded will take at least a year to fulfill. Two months' time is too little," says Arshad Shaikh, who runs the Bombay Star Restaurant in Shara Kharaba, one of the oldest quarters of the city.
Shaikh, 35, an Indian, who took over the 15-year-old restaurant, a year ago, says even if restaurant owners were to immediately start reconstructing in order to adhere to the government guidelines they would require permission from the building owners which "would take a lot of time."
That apart, Shaikh says that even if the deadline was a year away he "wouldn't follow" the rules for economic reasons.
"The cost for two or three refrigerators, different entrances for customers and staff, tiling, lighting... it would come up to another 20 grand. I can't afford it.
"And if I do, I would raise the prices in my restaurant, which would take away most of my customers. That means less business," adds Shaikh.
Though he believes his restaurant must be 64sq m, he says keeping "two or three refrigerators would take away too much place."
Shaikh doesn't have an issue with the guideline which demands that the "toilet must be in a location separate from the kitchen" and food preparation areas. His restaurant doesn't have a toilet at all.
"I will close down this shop in October," he says. "I'll do some other business."
Ibrahim, who runs the Al-Khamees Juice Shop in the same area, is quick to mention that his shop "is 20sq m".
But fully tiled walls and flooring? Proper ventilation system? A separate entrance for the delivery of juice?
He wonders what in the world you're talking about. "Separate entrance? How will I manage that in such a small shop?" he asks, stunned.
Meanwhile, in the Rayyan Street area which is dotted with low-priced restaurants, the owners are sure that the ministry doesn't want them to exist and that's why they have been given a target which is impossible to achieve.
A couple of weeks ago, officials took away copies of the restaurant owners' licenses and gave them two months' time to "start looking for a new place to run their show".
"The owner of this land (where the restaurants stand) has already sold it to the government," says Vasu Variath, who has owned the Beautiful Flower Restaurant in the lane for the last 21 years.
"They want to break this place down and make better buildings. It's already been decided," he says.
Variath, who has 11 employees working in his restaurant, says he will "have to send a few back".
"I pay QR 6,000 as rent for this place. Anywhere else I go I will have to now pay QR 5,000 for half its size. I won't need so many employees," he says.
"The ministry knows that the guidelines are impossible to meet. That's why they've made the time so short," he says.
Confirming that the land has "already been bought" by the government and the shops will indeed be razed, a senior official of Doha Municipality's Food Control Section says the guidelines are "not sudden".
"We haven't made the rules tougher. They've always been the same. The owners have only been reminded and now warned that if they do not adhere to them, action will be taken."
The official says all the guidelines mentioned in the advertisement are "exactly what they were even before".
"It was always a rule for a restaurant to be as big as 64sq m. A cafeteria always had to be 25sq m. Nothing has been increased or made tougher. We've only become more strict with the rules now," he adds.
He says earlier in Qatar there was "little education, but now there are colleges. People are more educated and aware. They know what is bacteria, what is hygiene. Earlier, not much attention was paid to such things."
But then why were the restaurant owners given licenses in the first place if the rules were always there? Was there nobody to check if the restaurants or cafeterias or juice shops were as per the rules demarcated before being handed the licenses?
"No," the official replies, "the problem is that the license department is different from the department that checks the restaurants for following rules."
"The restaurant owners would first get their licenses, and then later we would go check and realise they were not constructed as per the guidelines," the official says.
"But now," he says, "we have given the license department the set of rules which they would give the license seekers before handing them over the license for their outlets."
Hamsa, 40, who two days back opened his new outlet called Fantastic Restaurant in Shara Kabara, got his license "three months ago".
But until last Wednesday, when the Municipality made the announcement in the paper, he had "absolutely no clue" about the rules he has to follow.
"No one ever told me. Even now no one has come to check my place. The license department told me, they would come after two three months," he says, adding, "If I was told of the rules before I start construction, it would save a lot of money and time."
The Municipality official says "things are changing".
"The rules were always there, but there wasn't too much efficiency to see that they are implemented," he says.
Doha is on a "cleaning drive," he says, adding that the 2006 Asian Games wasn't the only reason for it. "We're developing, and we hope to develop fast and well. The Asian Games just happen to be a stop on the way."
"The old buildings have to go," he says, hinting he knows that the restaurants which have not followed the rules cannot possibly comply before the deadline of October 1.
But Abdul Aziz, 35, who, for the last 10 years, has owned three small restaurants in the Najma area, is not ready to believe that. Even though about five shops adjacent to his restaurant Tasty Chicken were razed to the ground last month.
"Can I see the paper again?" he asks, tensely rubbing his sweaty forehead.
Aziz starts reading the huge advertisement again. As if, this time it would be different. Or so he wishes.
Sidebar:
The difference between a restaurant, a cafeteria and a juice stall?
A juice stall (minimum 20sq m) can only sell juice.
"Biscuits or cheese sandwiches etc can be sold in a juice shop. That's okay. But nothing else." says an official.
A cafeteria (minimum 25sq m) can sell juice and any food item, which does not require a gas stove to be cooked.
"The reason for that is the size," says the official. "There will be too much smoke in a cafeteria if food is cooked, and that would increase the temperature as well. Hence, people inside would sweat, which is not good."
A restaurant (minimum 64sq m), on the other hand, can sell everything.
"Juices, sandwiches, snacks, cooked food etc."
BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Later in the day another Ministry official went on record saying "no action will be taken" and that they have only announced the guidelines in the paper "to scare restaurant owners" of the existence of a Doha Municipality!
Thapa, 31, who bought the restaurant just one month ago, is staring at the half-page announcement by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, which has given restaurant, cafeteria and juice shop owners till October 1, 2005 to change their shops' conditions as per the guidelines stated in the notice, else face "closure."
"What will I do?" Thapa nervously asks.
Since 1996, when he landed in Doha, he has collected "penny by penny, QR 40,000" to purchase his restaurant.
"If they close it down then?" Thapa asks again. Maybe he's hoping for a consoling reply. Even if it comes from his cook, or a regular customer standing beside him.
"Call your sponsor, no?" replies Anupam, 27, a Karwa taxi driver and regular at Thapa's outlet.
Arjun does so. The sponsor on the phone tells Thapa "not to worry, nothing will happen."
That's some consolation for Thapa, as he turns his eyes back to the ministry's announcement. With his finger following the text, he re-reads it word-for-word.
In the advertisement, the ministry states that restaurants must be a minimum of 64sq m in total size, cafeterias must be 25sq m, while juice stalls 20sq m.
Every restaurant, cafeteria or juice shop must be in a "good location, and near the common drainage network."
"The building must be free of cracks, properly ventilated, have adequate natural and artificial lighting, and be equipped with a system to maintain comfortable internal temperature."
All windows must be "covered with screens, and all doors must be equipped with self-closing mechanisms."
Moreover, the ministry wants the walls and flooring of the kitchen and toilet to be "fully tiled".
The kitchen should have "stainless steel tables with marble countertops for sanitation purposes, a stainless steel basin, equipped with both hot and cold water taps."
Also, it says, there should be "separate" refrigerators to store cooked food and uncooked items, and if there is a gas stove, which is obvious in a restaurant, there "must be a chimney installed extending at least 2m from the roof."
While these guidelines make complete sense to hygiene-conscious customers, small restaurant and cafeteria owners believe it is "impossible" to meet the ministry's deadline of October 1, which is less than two months away.
"What they (the ministry) have demanded will take at least a year to fulfill. Two months' time is too little," says Arshad Shaikh, who runs the Bombay Star Restaurant in Shara Kharaba, one of the oldest quarters of the city.
Shaikh, 35, an Indian, who took over the 15-year-old restaurant, a year ago, says even if restaurant owners were to immediately start reconstructing in order to adhere to the government guidelines they would require permission from the building owners which "would take a lot of time."
That apart, Shaikh says that even if the deadline was a year away he "wouldn't follow" the rules for economic reasons.
"The cost for two or three refrigerators, different entrances for customers and staff, tiling, lighting... it would come up to another 20 grand. I can't afford it.
"And if I do, I would raise the prices in my restaurant, which would take away most of my customers. That means less business," adds Shaikh.
Though he believes his restaurant must be 64sq m, he says keeping "two or three refrigerators would take away too much place."
Shaikh doesn't have an issue with the guideline which demands that the "toilet must be in a location separate from the kitchen" and food preparation areas. His restaurant doesn't have a toilet at all.
"I will close down this shop in October," he says. "I'll do some other business."
Ibrahim, who runs the Al-Khamees Juice Shop in the same area, is quick to mention that his shop "is 20sq m".
But fully tiled walls and flooring? Proper ventilation system? A separate entrance for the delivery of juice?
He wonders what in the world you're talking about. "Separate entrance? How will I manage that in such a small shop?" he asks, stunned.
Meanwhile, in the Rayyan Street area which is dotted with low-priced restaurants, the owners are sure that the ministry doesn't want them to exist and that's why they have been given a target which is impossible to achieve.
A couple of weeks ago, officials took away copies of the restaurant owners' licenses and gave them two months' time to "start looking for a new place to run their show".
"The owner of this land (where the restaurants stand) has already sold it to the government," says Vasu Variath, who has owned the Beautiful Flower Restaurant in the lane for the last 21 years.
"They want to break this place down and make better buildings. It's already been decided," he says.
Variath, who has 11 employees working in his restaurant, says he will "have to send a few back".
"I pay QR 6,000 as rent for this place. Anywhere else I go I will have to now pay QR 5,000 for half its size. I won't need so many employees," he says.
"The ministry knows that the guidelines are impossible to meet. That's why they've made the time so short," he says.
Confirming that the land has "already been bought" by the government and the shops will indeed be razed, a senior official of Doha Municipality's Food Control Section says the guidelines are "not sudden".
"We haven't made the rules tougher. They've always been the same. The owners have only been reminded and now warned that if they do not adhere to them, action will be taken."
The official says all the guidelines mentioned in the advertisement are "exactly what they were even before".
"It was always a rule for a restaurant to be as big as 64sq m. A cafeteria always had to be 25sq m. Nothing has been increased or made tougher. We've only become more strict with the rules now," he adds.
He says earlier in Qatar there was "little education, but now there are colleges. People are more educated and aware. They know what is bacteria, what is hygiene. Earlier, not much attention was paid to such things."
But then why were the restaurant owners given licenses in the first place if the rules were always there? Was there nobody to check if the restaurants or cafeterias or juice shops were as per the rules demarcated before being handed the licenses?
"No," the official replies, "the problem is that the license department is different from the department that checks the restaurants for following rules."
"The restaurant owners would first get their licenses, and then later we would go check and realise they were not constructed as per the guidelines," the official says.
"But now," he says, "we have given the license department the set of rules which they would give the license seekers before handing them over the license for their outlets."
Hamsa, 40, who two days back opened his new outlet called Fantastic Restaurant in Shara Kabara, got his license "three months ago".
But until last Wednesday, when the Municipality made the announcement in the paper, he had "absolutely no clue" about the rules he has to follow.
"No one ever told me. Even now no one has come to check my place. The license department told me, they would come after two three months," he says, adding, "If I was told of the rules before I start construction, it would save a lot of money and time."
The Municipality official says "things are changing".
"The rules were always there, but there wasn't too much efficiency to see that they are implemented," he says.
Doha is on a "cleaning drive," he says, adding that the 2006 Asian Games wasn't the only reason for it. "We're developing, and we hope to develop fast and well. The Asian Games just happen to be a stop on the way."
"The old buildings have to go," he says, hinting he knows that the restaurants which have not followed the rules cannot possibly comply before the deadline of October 1.
But Abdul Aziz, 35, who, for the last 10 years, has owned three small restaurants in the Najma area, is not ready to believe that. Even though about five shops adjacent to his restaurant Tasty Chicken were razed to the ground last month.
"Can I see the paper again?" he asks, tensely rubbing his sweaty forehead.
Aziz starts reading the huge advertisement again. As if, this time it would be different. Or so he wishes.
Sidebar:
The difference between a restaurant, a cafeteria and a juice stall?
A juice stall (minimum 20sq m) can only sell juice.
"Biscuits or cheese sandwiches etc can be sold in a juice shop. That's okay. But nothing else." says an official.
A cafeteria (minimum 25sq m) can sell juice and any food item, which does not require a gas stove to be cooked.
"The reason for that is the size," says the official. "There will be too much smoke in a cafeteria if food is cooked, and that would increase the temperature as well. Hence, people inside would sweat, which is not good."
A restaurant (minimum 64sq m), on the other hand, can sell everything.
"Juices, sandwiches, snacks, cooked food etc."
BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Later in the day another Ministry official went on record saying "no action will be taken" and that they have only announced the guidelines in the paper "to scare restaurant owners" of the existence of a Doha Municipality!
posted by Once the Conman at 6:51 PM
1 Comments:
i mean it was all a hoax
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