BENGALURU: The hospitality industry is both joyous and worried at the news that pubs, bars and restaurants may be permitted to open for dine-in service from September 1.
“We’re very keen on opening bars and restaurants from next month. I’ve told the excise commissioner and finance department to submit a proposal to the chief minister and it’ll be done in a day or two. We’re awaiting the Centre’s guidelines which may allow opening of pubs, bars and restaurants,’’ said state excise minister H Nagesh.
However, sources said the Centre’s guidelines, expected over the next 2-3 days, may not allow bars, clubs and restaurants, cinema halls and educational institutions to reopen at least till September given the spike in Covid cases in different parts of the country.
If the state decides to open up, excise department officials said customers may be seated to consume food and drink, and no more than four people can visit a restaurant, pub or bar together. The only exception is family groups which can be larger than four.
It’s been over five months since cinema halls and bars and restaurants shut due to the pandemic and representatives of both sectors have been putting pressure on the government to allow them to resume business.
“We’re hopeful we’ll allowed to open. There is no point in keeping only a few sectors shut when all others, including hotels, are allowed to open,” said Govindraj Hegde, general secretary, Federation of Wine Merchants Association, Karnataka, who has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting the hardship of owners and thousands of workers following closure of their business.
The association members have decided to submit petitions to the CM through deputy commissioners of all districts before August 29 to put pressure on the government. “If we don’t get permission to open bars, we may hold a token protest across the state before September 10,” said a bar owner from Belagavi.
There’s no clarity yet on the reopening of educational institutions with everybody looking to the Centre for cues.
D R Jairaj, president, Karnataka Film Chamber and Commerce, said the film industry has been on ventilator and not allowing cinema halls to open will deteriorate the situation. “We have appealed to the state government to allow cinema halls to run. We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he added.
A film producer said postponing the opening of cinema halls will push a lot of producers and film exhibitors into a financial mess and the government must come to their rescue. “There are a dozen films ready and waiting for theatres to open for the past four months. Some may have borrowed money and they’ll be in big trouble if the government postpones opening of cinema halls,” he said.
He questioned the rationale of the decision to allow shooting of films while keeping halls shut. “If the government delays opening theatres, there will be unnecessary competition for release of films and small producers and films will suffer in this situation,” he added.
“We’re very keen on opening bars and restaurants from next month. I’ve told the excise commissioner and finance department to submit a proposal to the chief minister and it’ll be done in a day or two. We’re awaiting the Centre’s guidelines which may allow opening of pubs, bars and restaurants,’’ said state excise minister H Nagesh.
However, sources said the Centre’s guidelines, expected over the next 2-3 days, may not allow bars, clubs and restaurants, cinema halls and educational institutions to reopen at least till September given the spike in Covid cases in different parts of the country.
If the state decides to open up, excise department officials said customers may be seated to consume food and drink, and no more than four people can visit a restaurant, pub or bar together. The only exception is family groups which can be larger than four.
It’s been over five months since cinema halls and bars and restaurants shut due to the pandemic and representatives of both sectors have been putting pressure on the government to allow them to resume business.
“We’re hopeful we’ll allowed to open. There is no point in keeping only a few sectors shut when all others, including hotels, are allowed to open,” said Govindraj Hegde, general secretary, Federation of Wine Merchants Association, Karnataka, who has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting the hardship of owners and thousands of workers following closure of their business.
The association members have decided to submit petitions to the CM through deputy commissioners of all districts before August 29 to put pressure on the government. “If we don’t get permission to open bars, we may hold a token protest across the state before September 10,” said a bar owner from Belagavi.
There’s no clarity yet on the reopening of educational institutions with everybody looking to the Centre for cues.
D R Jairaj, president, Karnataka Film Chamber and Commerce, said the film industry has been on ventilator and not allowing cinema halls to open will deteriorate the situation. “We have appealed to the state government to allow cinema halls to run. We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he added.
A film producer said postponing the opening of cinema halls will push a lot of producers and film exhibitors into a financial mess and the government must come to their rescue. “There are a dozen films ready and waiting for theatres to open for the past four months. Some may have borrowed money and they’ll be in big trouble if the government postpones opening of cinema halls,” he said.
He questioned the rationale of the decision to allow shooting of films while keeping halls shut. “If the government delays opening theatres, there will be unnecessary competition for release of films and small producers and films will suffer in this situation,” he added.
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