Restaurants and bars under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) jurisdiction have started serving till 10 pm after the civic body issued a revised circular on Friday night, allowing increased business hours. The Navi Mumbai Hotel Associations had requested the civic body to allow more business hours in order to get more customers.
Under Mission Begin Again, the state government had allowed hotels, restaurants and bars to operate from 8am to 7pm at 50 per cent of their capacity. Following the state government’s decision on September 30, the civic body issued a circular and allowed restaurants and bars to operate from 8am to 7pm with 50 per cent capacity. However, representatives of Navi Mumbai Hotel Associations met the civic administration and requested to increase the business hours till 10pm.
The association's members had claimed that they hardly get customers, as they have to shut down the shops by 7pm. They said that most families or customers come out of their homes after 8pm to dine. However, by then, their shops were already closed. Now, all restaurants and bars can operate from 8am to 10pm. However, there will be no business activity in containment zones until October 31.
The civic body has asked all restaurants and bars to maintain social distance. As per the order, the occupancy should not be more than 50 percent of the total capacity.