‘Police harassed me as my Rs 10-meal is better than Aahar’

Sanjay Das

He runs his small roadside eatery in the Capital city and serves meal at a highly subsidised Rs10. He came to limelight after being detained by police for serving the meal at the Capital Hospital when the State Government launched its much-hyped Rs5-meal under the Aahar scheme. Minutes after his van started serving his meal, the Government stall began wearing a deserted look. Though police said he was detained for selling meal at an unauthorised place, the cause behind the crackdown was very clear: It was perceived that he ran a parallel scheme with probably better quality and taste of food thereby threatening to foil the Government-sponsored Aahar.

Hemanta Kumar Pradhan from The Pioneer met Sanjay Das near his mobile van canteen in the city.

Why did you moot an idea about selling Rs10-meal?

I have seen the city since my childhood. There are several poor people coming from rural areas and those who are staying in the city do not get enough money to feed their family in a hotel due to want of money. Sometimes, some people get cheated by hotels as the hotels normally charge Rs40 for a meal by giving substandard rice, dal, khata and vegetable chips. I have been witnessing this from my young age as I’m involved with roadside hotel business since 1988. It prompted me to come up with my ‘Aama Ghara Healthy Food Packet’ on October 5, 2012. We sell a meal consisting of rice and dalma by packets in mobile vans at different points of the city including Baramunda, Indradhanu Market in Nayapalli, Fortune Tower, near Rajiv Bhawan, Kalpana Square and Bapuji Nagar. We sell the meal with other items also for which extra charges are levied. We also accept orders for delivery of food at doorsteps. Our meal for Rs10 is widely famous now.

Do you get any profit from the venture as the meal is highly subsidised?

See, we should not think about loss and profit always. Honestly speaking, I have never experienced loss in my venture, though the profit is not much. For example, I INVEST Rs9.5 for  the Rs10-meal and get Rs500 from 1,000 meals. I am happy that many less privileged people get benefit from my small initiative. Yes, the profit margin is a bit higher in the other items that I sell which are given depending on the choice of the customers.

When police asked you where you GET MONEY to run the Rs10-meal programme, what was your answer?

You know people nowadays tend to get very suspicious when you do something good even if your intent is really good. I explained police the way I operate. But they were in no mood to buy my story. A police officer manhandled me. But my question is when I had launched my venture in 2012, where were the police?

Please explain what had happened on the day police rounded you up?

My helpers were busy selling meals near the Aahar counter of the Government at the Capital Hospital when the incident happened. When the customers deserted the Government stall and showed interest in my meal, police rushed to my van and took my workers to the police station. After a few minutes, the police released my workers due to public pressure and, instead, took me with them to the police station. An ASI beat me there. Later, some activists came to my rescue. Police said some auto rickshaw drivers had lodged a complaint against me for selling the meal near their stand.

Now, consider this: If auto drivers had lodged complaint against me for selling the meal near their stand, why did the police let me off? I had no problem with auto drivers, but the PCR Van came and took me to the police station in a huff. I would have been happy if the Government had appreciated my effort but, instead, it grew vindictive. The police detained me for a vague reason and insulted me. If such things continue in the State, people who do business without caring much for a big profit will be harassed while those fleecing customers will get a shot in the arm.