How Can Restaurants In The City Shut At 10pm? Extend Deadline To 1.30am, Say Mumbaikars

While the new ‘Break The Chain’ unlock guidelines issued on August 11, by the government of Maharashtra, have come as a temporary relief for restaurant owners in the city, and eateries were seen open till 10pm since yesterday, restaurateurs and a huge section of Mumbaikars feel that the revised guidelines aren’t enough and do not serve much of a purpose for them. They firmly believe that the government should let them resume their operational timings of 1.30am.

- Debarati S Sen

Columnist, author and food critic Rashmi Uday Singh, who feels rather strongly for the restaurateurs says, “Extending the hours to 1.30 am,which is the original licensed time, is crucial for several reasons. First of all, it is physically impossible for diners to complete their meal in less than two hours. Moreover, our restaurants are bleeding. They’ve been shut 52 per cent of the period since the first lockdown and opened only with limited hours. Extending time till 1.30 am is crucial, to help give restaurants a shot in the arm.”

Officials at AHAR (Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association) couldn’t agree more. Shivanand Shetty, President, AHAR, explains, “Given the hectic life they live, some Mumbaikars prefer having dinner between 9 - 10 pm. So, in the given 10 pm deadline with 50% occupancy limit, we are able to cater to only one set of diners, as taking orders and food preparation takes time and we won’t be able to do justice to our patrons. Enforcing this deadline could lead to unnecessary arguments between owners and authorities and in some cases corruption, too. So, we would be grateful if the administration could extend timings to pre-COVID time period, i.e. 1.30 am.”

Columnist, author and social commentator Shobhaa De isn’t happy with the restrictions either. She tells us, “If the same people could work and earn at the old restricted timing of 4 pm, how does anything suddenly change at 11 pm? The restaurant business has been seriously impacted during the pandemic. It should be given an optimum push to get back on its feet. Provide incentives, remove arbitrary restrictions.”