Gujarat: Hoteliers want more dining hours unlocked

AHMEDABAD/GANDHINAGAR: After the Union government issued guidelines for Unlock 2.0, which comes into force from Wednesday, July 1, the Gujarat government on Tuesday adopted all the guidelines and issued a notification to implement Unlock 2.0 guidelines from Wednesday.
As suggested by the central government, lockdown norms have been further relaxed. Shops and restaurants will now be able to remain open for longer duration, while night curfew has been further curtailed.

Chief minister Vijay Rupani, in a statement said, “The state government has notified the central government’s guidelines for the state for Unlock 2.0 which will be in force from July 1 in the state. Under this, lockdown norms will be relaxed further. Shops will be allowed to remain open till 8pm while restaurants will be allowed to remain open up to 9pm. Night curfew will be imposed between 10pm and 5am.”
According to restaurateurs and retailers, the relaxation is unlikely to provide much relief to businesses, which are already reeling under liquidity crunch with customer footfalls at stores as well as restaurants and eateries getting adversely affected.
Narendra Somani, president, Hotels & Restaurants’ Association, said, “The government should have extended the operational hours for restaurants till 11pm. Footfalls in restaurants which began with dine-in services last month had already reduced to barely 10% against pre-Covid period. With two hours of extensions, a significant change isn’t likely.”
Industry players said that most restaurants will still continue with takeaway services because adding operating costs by offering dine-in services will not be viable if footfalls will be low.
Similar is the case of retailers, who have been facing a decline in demand. “Due to social distancing and widespread infection, people are as such reluctant in stepping out and thus, the customer footfall at shops is bad. An hour’s extension will not really make a difference with the same. Ground realities must be considered before taking decisions,” said Vasant Tirodkar, vice-president, CG Road Retailers’ Association.