The capital city’s tag as a city which sleeps early, with its streets deserted and shops shuttered by nightfall, is set to change with the State Cabinet’s decision on Wednesday to accord permission for commercial establishments, including restaurants, to function round-the-clock in areas designated by the Corporation.
The government will also form a committee consisting of officials of the Tourism, Police, Local Self-Government and Labour departments and the city Corporation to oversee the new system and to ensure safety measures.
The plan is to extend the same to other cities by April this year. Earlier this year, the Maharashtra government had also lifted restrictions on trading hours to allow shopping and dining round-the-clock.
At present, most of the commercial establishments here function between 9 a.m and 9 p.m, with restaurants and bars staying open till 11 p.m. A handful of restaurants and wayside eateries function up to 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.
Hoteliers’ reaction
According to office-bearers of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association, who participated in a meeting convened by the government in this regard, the officials had raised the issue of non-availability of food in the city after 11 p.m. “We are ready to keep our shops open, as long as the government can ensure security even late at night. Some of our members are concerned whether there will be enough business to justify the extra costs in keeping the restaurants and shops open round-the-clock,” says Vijayakumar, district secretary, KHRA.
While some restaurant owners are hopeful that there is a considerably huge crowd who would choose to dine out and shop at night, some others are wondering whether there would be enough attitudinal change among the city crowd to make the move a success.
“There are several students who work in the evenings in wayside eateries and restaurants. Some of them will also be keen to work in these night shifts,” says Peringamala Ramachandran, office-bearer of the Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi.