City’s first food truck owner thrashed by corporator; harassment is unending, allege truckersFood trucks, dishing out eclectic street cuisine, dot the streets of most global cities, but in Bengaluru it seems like food trucks and their owners have run into a spot of violent bother. The most recent incident took place on Thursday night when the owner of a food truck in HSR Layout was badly beaten by an allegedly drunk corporator and his henchmen.It is a tale told by almost all the 42 registered food truck owners across the city. The main reason for the harassment, they say, is the unavailability of a proper licence to run their business; most function using a hawker’s licence.In spite of the trucks being welcomed by Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs), IT giants like Infosys (which gives them free space every Friday) and IT parks, the BBMP and the police are alleged to have kept up a steady level of harassment.Thursday night’s incident saw 38-year-old Shakthi Subburao, owner of the city’s first food truck, Gypsy Kitchen, allegedly beaten up by corporator Gurumurthy Reddy of the HSR Layout ward and his associates.Subburao, who runs his business on HSR Layout’s 27th main, sustained injuries to his face, head, back, and arms.He was told by the police that if he filed a complaint, his business would be affected forever. However, thanks to the timely intervention of the president of the Bangalore Food Truck Association, Varun Srikanth, the HSR Layout police finally registered the complaint on Friday afternoon and charged Reddy and his associates with causing hurt and rioting.“Reddy told the victim to remove the truck as there was no permission for him to run his food business on a truck. But then why are pushcart vendors allowed to do business. Food trucks are targeted as we cater to a classier crowd and are more hygienic and attract more people. Moreover, none of the food truck owners violate traffic rules, and park their trucks at designated parking areas. The main problem is the licence, which is a grey area that needs to be addressed. If the authorities are against our functioning, then there should be a ban on 99 variety dosa stalls, momo sellers, chat vendors, etc,” Srikanth told BM.The corporator, in his defence, claimed the allegations made against him were false and baseless: “I was returning home on Thursday night and saw somebody beating the food truck owner. I rushed to rescue him and unfortunately the blame has come on me.”One question food truck owners ask, however, is why they’re being targeted and harassed when there are no issues with other food vendors.“We have necessary certificates from the BBMP and commercial tax department. We have billing machines and issue bills to customers and every business transaction is accounted for. The hawker’s licence clearly states that cooking of food is not allowed. But I sell ice-creams, even then I am being harassed by the BBMP and the police. Most roadside vendors cook food, then why are we the ones who are always at the receiving end,” questions Varun who runs a food truck in HSR Layout.“The association is requesting all authorities concerned to give us proper guidelines and licences and we will abide by the rules. We are ready to pay the required licence fee,” Varun added.“I run a food truck on New BEL Road and the police and civic authorities regularly come and ask for a licence. Since there is no proper licence for food trucks, I don’t have anything to show them. They ask me to move on and I have to listen. Recently, some residents also demanded I show them a licence. The licencing factor has to be addressed immediately so that the registered food truck owners are not harassed,” Yathindra, owner of a food truck, told BM.