Full marks for taste, but how does Lucknow's Chatori Gali fare in terms of hygiene & fire safety?

Stall after stall of mouthwatering delicacies from dosa and chaap to Tibetan and Korean food, Chatori Gali is undoubtedly Lucknow's fast food hub. As the clock strikes 5 in the evening, the place is abuzz with foodies. While there is no dearth of variety at the 1090 food hub, hygiene and fire safety are a big concern and surely need to be checked before an unforeseen incident takes place!

We visited the popular gali to see how things were, and here's what we found-

Let's begin with fire safety. For a place where a lot of cooking goes in close proximity, the risk of fire-related incidents is a big possibility. People smoking around fire sources and cooking left unattended (like you see in the picture above) adds to the scary possibility of a mishap. During our visit, we also tried to look for fire extinguishers or other such first-response equipment in the lane but couldn't find any!

When it comes to hygiene, we found the far end of chatori gali to be lacking. As you can see in the picture, one will find patches of garbage on both the entry and exit of the lane. With no proper toilets, the vendors could also be seen using the open area of the park, on the opposite end of the lane, as toilets. People relieving themselves in public to stray animals further dirtying the place, the sight around the Chatori Gali isn't as pleasant as its many street food offerings.

When it comes to hygiene, a significant chunk of the blame must lie with the people who visit the lane to satiate their street food cravings. After all, the lane has a number of dustbins that are often found mostly empty while the trash is strewn along the corners of the stalls.

Furthermore, people who take the food to eat in their parked cars or two-wheelers often chuck the disposable plates and other garbage right out of the window and drive away. As a result, the hygiene levels in Chatori Gali comes down significantly due to this.

If we were to rate 1090 food lane, while the food would get a full on 10/10, the hygiene cannot get more than 5/10, and fire safety- 4/10.