Dine-in At Restaurants, Hotels To Resume By October First Week Maharashtra CM Tells Hoteliers

Pranita Roy

Pune, September 28, 2020: Hotels and restaurants in the state are likely to resume their dine-in facilities soon. The Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray assured the hoteliers that most likely by the first week of October hotels and restaurants can begin their dine-in services in a meeting held today.

The state government officials are underway preparing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be followed by hotels and restaurants after starting the services. The SOPs will be soon finalised after consulting and referring to hotel associations in the state.

Pune Restaurants and Hoteliers Association president, Ganesh Shetty said, “today we had a fruitful zoom meeting with the CM and his team regarding the reopening of dine-in facilities in restaurants. The CM has assured us that the restaurants will reopen in the first week of October.”

“Also the SOPs provided by the CMO office will have to be followed by the restaurants to ensure the safety of its patrons. He has also assured that the excise license fees will be revised on a pro-rata basis against the balance operational months of the year 2020-21,” Shetty said.

Even though industries resumed functioning under the ‘Mission Begin Again’, hotels and restaurants were allowed to provide ‘takeaway services’ only– the dine-in facilities were shut for the last six months. This affected the hotel industry hugely. The hoteliers’ associations had written letters to the CM requesting to grant permission to restart the dine-in facilities as many hotels and restaurants are facing economic crises, so much so that 40 percent of restaurants are on verge of shutting down.

“Our industry has suffered a loss of Rs 600 Crores. Also, our industry-related suppliers accrued Rs 500 Crores loss besides 2.5 lakh people lost jobs due to the lockdown. About 15 to 20% restaurants have already closed”, Shetty informed.

राज्य शासनाने रेस्टॉरंट सुरु करण्यासाठी मार्गदर्शक तत्वे तयार केली असून ती संबंधितांना पाठविली आहेत.ती अंतिम झाल्यानंतर रेस्टॉरंट सुरु करण्याबाबत निर्णय घेतला जाईल असे मुख्यमंत्री उद्धव बाळासाहेब ठाकरे राज्यातील रेस्टॉरंट व्यवसायिक संघटनांच्या प्रतिनिधींसोबत चर्चा करताना म्हणाले.

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) September 28, 2020