Pune: Dine-in service at restaurants, visit to malls not allowed this weekend

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) issued an order on Friday telling restaurants, malls and establishments like salons and spas to remain closed on weekends, dealing a blow to the possibility of recovering some of the losses.
Restaurants can, however, execute parcel orders on Saturday and Sunday, but dining at establishments on weekends has been disallowed.

The PMC order, which came into force on Friday, stated that non-essential shops like malls, beauty parlours, salons, spas, wellness centers, etc, will remain closed on Saturday and Sunday. As per the order, restaurants, bars, and food courts can only execute parcel services/home deliveries till 11 pm on Saturday and Sunday. The order will be applicable in PMC limits until further notice.
Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol told TOI, “Although the positivity rate in PMC limits is below 5%, we have decided to let the weekend curbs remain for now. If restrictions are lifted suddenly during weekends, there is a likelihood of increased rush. We will review the situation before next weekend.”
Vikram Shetty, vice-president of Pune Restaurants and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA), said that weekends account for five weekdays’ worth of business, with close to 50% revenues. “Weekend curbs will add to losses suffered by the industry during the second wave. The industry deals with perishables and is labour-intensive. Instead of shutting dine-ins completely on weekends, restricted operational timings would have been a better option to curb the rush. Restaurants have bought perishables like onions and other veggies in bulk and they would not be able to finish them through just parcel orders, causing a huge wastage,” he said.
Ganesh Shetty, president of PRAHA, said, “We have to pay the staff on monthly basis and while paying salaries, we cannot deduct the weekend quantum of wages. Nearly 40-50% restaurants have still not opened for dine-ins. Those who have not begun dine-ins are unlikely to start the facility until weekend curbs are lifted.”
Surjit Singh Rajpurohit, chief operating officer of Amanora Mall and member of Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) said, “Business mainly happens on weekends in malls. If there is no permission to operate on Saturdays and Sundays, then keeping the malls open on weekdays also does not make much sense. We hardly have any footfall between Monday and Friday. Operational costs are very high and a weekend closure disrupts the momentum. In many other cities in the country, malls have been allowed to operate on weekends after the cases started dropping.”