Pune: Restaurants to reopen only after June 30

Pune: Foodies in Pune have to wait for three more weeks before they could occupy a seat in their favourite restaurant, hotel or bar to have lunch, dinner or drinks. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has said that hotels would be reopened only after June 30 and till then only take-away or parcel services can be provided to customers.

The Central government in its guidelines issued on May 31 have allowed hotels, restaurants and bars to reopen. However, the Maharashtra state government and PMC has not yet issued orders about it. Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad on Sunday also clarified that hotels in Pune won't be fully functional from June 8 and they are allowed to offer only parcel services. Hoteliers are also reluctant to restart their services in haste.

Ganesh Shetty, President of Pune Restaurant and Hoteliers Association (PRHA) said, "Even if we get permission to restart hotels, it won't be entirely possible. Almost about 70 per cent of staff working in hotels have returned to the native places during the migration process facilitated during the lockdown. Also, we would like to take the utmost precaution and care from staff and customers point of view once we start the hotels."

"Social distancing norms to be followed. Hence the distance between two tables needs to be maintained. All places where the hotel staff, waiters and customers will come in proximity needs to be sanitized frequently. Only 50 per cent of staff will be allowed to be on duty. Each one of them needs to be imparted training with respect to his or her own as well as customer safety," Shetty added.

He informed, “The PMC has made it clear that hotels and restaurants in the city will reopen only after June 30. There are 8500 hotels, restaurants and bars in the city. Only 10 per cent of them are presently providing take-away / parcel services. All bars are closed. In the coming days, parcel service providers may increase. We would adopt technology-based solutions to offer hygienic services to customers.”

Kishor Sarpotdar, Secretary of PRHA, said, "To avoid corona-virus infection spread we need to reorganize the seating arrangements in the restaurants and hotels. Along with restarting business, customer's safety is also important for us. We need to install necessary safety devices and equipment in the hotels which would need at least 15 days. Therefore, even if we get permission to restart our businesses tomorrow, it just won't be possible for us to get going immediately."