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>>As the controversy surrounding an audit report conduct among the food outlets in Technopark get murkier, Vital Links & Services, the company which runs the Food Court at Thejawani, came out with an explanation.
While the issue become a hot topic among techies and was taken up by the mainstream media, Technopark authorities and Infosys still keep the audit report under wraps.   The letter brings a new twist to the entire  episodes.  In the letter sent to Kerala IT News, Navii Shyam Poddar, Director, Vital Links & Services, has alleged the entire issue as a manipulation of some Technopark executives.  He alleged that the food audit report is part of a sustained malicious campaign by Technopark authorities to oust them from Technopark.
The unedited letter sent by Navii Shyam is as follows:
Dear Editor, I read this article about the food establishments at Technopark on Kerala IT News and I would like to state that it is in very bad taste, derogatory, degrading, dis-informative and not substantiated. You should have verified the contents before publishing the same. We don’t know which Technopark executives are informing you about these issues and why you are publishing the same before verifying the true facts!!!
Let us question all your issues written:
1. What was happening in Technopark before 2008 when the food court was not operational? It is only because of the branded Food court that all the other players improved their quality and ambience. It is also facts that after the opening of the Food court the attrition levels in the Technopark companies have fallen down.
2. Well we would not like to comment much on the other establishments but would like to state that our brands and we are very conscious on quality and service and would have preferred if you would have verified your comments on some of our brand partners!
3. Which company / body has carried out this audit? Is it approved or accredited by any established well known audit company with expertise in this field? Or they are just stating their findings to defame us because of undue pressures from Technopark executives! In fact we have the true findings from Technopark about us when they officially carried out an audit earlier. Why did you not ask Technopark for the reports?
4. Why have you not gone to the depths of why and how the Technopark CEO and its executives have sent a termination letter to the Food court? Have the so called executives you interviewed, not mentioned that the Ombudsman of the State of Kerala has fined and penalised Technopark for their partial and authoritarian behaviour? There are several cases pending in the legal courts in Kerala and we are wondering the how come the Technopark executives you have interviewed or given their statement be published when the matters are sub-judice?
5. Are you also out to defame our brand partners and us, like the Technopark executives???
6. The units as mentioned by you in our food court were not shut due to poor management or bad quality; but because Mothers Kitchen was in cahoots with some of the Technopark executives. In  spite of their not paying us for over 18 months and dues over Rs.30 lakhs, some of the Technopark executives favoured him tremendously and bent backwards to please him for their own personal reasons and gains! In fact even as on date, Mothers kitchen owner is being favoured by the some Technopark executives and they wish to see us shut for their own reasons as he is being seen in corridors of Park Centre.
7. The other brands you mentioned closed down due to the daily interference of Technopark executives and their partialism and feudal behaviour.
8. Dominos and other partners in our food court are right by refusing permission for an audit. Vital Links & Services has taken the place from Technopark and opened a Food court and it is proper and ethical if any company or body asks us first, that they wish to carry out an audit!
9. As regards to certain issues of quality you have mentioned about our partner brands, you should have shown us the proof which generally people do; and not publish before proving to us or our staff about the issues you have mentioned.
We can only state that this article of yours has been written and ill advised to you, by some persons and authorities who choose to defame and demoralise us and the resources working at Technopark; as they wish to see us close down to suit their personal endeavours and gains.
If you or any person wishes to see the written orders and developments against us by Technopark authorities which are pending in various legal courts in Kerala, please do call on us before you make wild statements and accusations.
I would appreciate if you could publish our reply unedited; as the unsubstantiated copy which you carried has caused a lot of negative publicity to our brand partners and us because of your taking sides to favour some officials from Park Centre.
Navii Shyam Poddar, Director, Vital Links & Services
Yes, it cannot get murkier than this. Maybe CEO & CFO have stopped getting their regular cut (hafta) from Vital Links.
Just like jail-filling strikes of our political parties, what about a Brute-force attack (IT way of strike) to the food court contractor and Technpark CEO’s email ids with these disgusting pictures?
Here we are paying very high price for worms, plastic caps etc.
“It is also facts that after the opening of the Food court the attrition levels in the Technopark companies have fallen down.”
What a blunder..Are we coming to eat ?
@PraVeen, nice idea….
I strongly agree with Poddar about his view on attrition levels in technopark.
I have been in technopark since 2004. I know how it got transformed from worst situation to a some what better level now. Arrival of vital links and other restaurants, have significantly contributed to growth of technopark over these years.
Availability of affordable,tasty, quality multicusine food in trivandrum (in particular) and kerala (in general) is very difficult. To a large extend, food chains in technopark have solved this problem for technopark.
As kerala imports everything from salt to pepper from other states, food is certain to be costly. It is not the problem of food chains, but social problem of kerala. You can still get quality meals in Chennai and Bangalore for less than 20 Rs. But it is not possible anywhere in kerala.
I too agree with Poddar.
The typical Malayalam proverb “Njanum nannavulla Ninyayum nanakkan vidulla”, can be changed in this way, “Neither malayaless provide good food , nor they allow others to provide good food”
Long live malayaless.
The worst food problem is not only with in the food courts running by the Vital links in Tejaswini food court. But some of the restaurants there really sucks. for example there is a chinese restaurant, 3 out of 5 people got stomach problems after having food from there.
..and sometimes the chic-king is giving over friend or stale chicken. They are not consistent with quality of food they are serving.
The restaurants outside of the Tejaswini food court are even worse – The old Buraq, Time and again, Rangoli etc are providing cheap quality foods for high prices,there were a restaurant called Peppers. they were giving good food earlier but later they also falled in to this same category.
So there should be a formal body including the food inspectors, technopark officials, company representatives, and techie representatives, has to conduct surprise visits to the hotels, and there should be some feedback mechanism to know who is giving the bad food.
What you think guys?
I am here in Technopark from 2003. Definitely food availability problems got solved up to an extend after the introduction of food court in Thejaswini. But price and quality do not match so you do not see less than average-salary-techies regularly in this food court. They visit occasionally just for a change or when they have no choice (Eg: time constraint).
Btw, welcome vital link representatives to the blog. And, please don’t use “malayalees”. Everybody is affected. Somebody provide food doesn’t mean we must eat any sh*t. When we pay, it is our “right” to get quality food. We should not be eating worms, plastic caps and used band-aids.
We are not asking to close down any food outlets, but to improve quality.
And, btw @rajmarthandam, the said audit was conducted by Infosys and not simply “malayalees”. Please don’t comment just for the sake of commenting.
***** Post removed due to offensive language******
@rajmarthandam,
Behave yourself in a public forum like this. we don’t know whether you are a vital link supporter employee etc..but one thing we can say
Provide food which worth for the money, else we the entire techies will teach you guys a lesson.
I suspect some anti trivandrum (technopark) lobby behind this controversy, surrounding food chains in technopark.
This lobby wants to curtail, the current growth in technopark.
^^^
RajMarthandam – What is your real worry or problem? The food? Or the existence of the food court/technopark? Are you a techie? Do you eat from the food court and other restaurants?
@MOD, please remove the offensive post addressed to me
Due to cultural problems I am not planning to reply to that post.
Removed the comment.