An employee of Jyothi restaurant at Dadar TT checks the temperature of a patron on Monday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
As restaurants and bars opened up on Monday morning, a lot of confusion was seen over the timings. Later in the day, the Tourism and Excise department's principal secretary Valsa Nair Singh confirmed that all eateries, including bars and permit rooms, were allowed to operate from 8 am till 10 pm till further orders. In pre-COVID times some of them would remain open till early morning hours and others till about midnight. However, late night dining has become a thing of the past, at least for a while now.
The standard operating procedure issued by the government did not mention the working hours. The excise personnel were under the impression that their department's previous order regarding counter sales of liquor by retail shops till 7 pm would apply for bars as well.
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Officials of the excise, tourism and other related departments discussed the issue on Monday because during enforcement of the disaster management law in view of the pandemic, the respective local authority decides the timings. Even the hoteliers in Mumbai had expected a similar order from the local authorities and had asked bars to not serve alcohol till they received the instructions.
Civic body reduces occupancy to 33%
The BMC has restricted the capacity of the city's restaurants and bars to 33 per cent. The state on the other hand had allowed them and food courts to operate at 50 per cent capacity.
In his order, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal restricted the capacity of restaurants to one-third till October 31.
Restaurants also have to follow the protocols which have already been issued by the Directorate of Tourism.
In another order, the commissioner also emphasised on the need for support from private hospitals. "In view of the increasing number of COVID-19 patients and a very high level of occupancy of ICU beds in Mumbai hospitals, private hospitals and nursing homes have to ensure that no admission is done directly," said Chahal. This means that no hospital admission may be done without intimating the respective ward war room.
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