Bengaluru, Jun 10 (Business Today): Every eateries in Bengaluru inclusing Malls, hotels and restaurants have to provide free clean drinking water to all their customers.

Bengaluru's civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued a circular to all multiplexes, making it mandatory for them to ensure that customers have access to free drinking water on their premises.

The circular reportedly came after the Bengaluru Urban district consumer forum adressed a complaint emphasising customer inconvenience at multiplexes and eateries over drinking water.

The Bengaluru Urban District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum (DCDRF) was hearing a case filed by 47-year-old Sudha Katwa, after she was denied free water on May 29, 2016 by an outlet of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in a Yeshwantpur mall. She was instead told that she would have to buy bottled drinking water, reported the Times of India.

TOI report quoted Sudha as saying, "People are asked to pay for drinking water though it is the responsibility of the eatery to provide it for free. In some cases, eateries provide water but the surroundings are unhygienic. Most of the time, it's kept next to toilets. A mall in west Bengaluru has 34 food outlets on one of its floors and drinking water is available at one remote corner. In most malls, customers are forced to either run around to find water or pay for water bottles".