Restaurants may get to serve liquor

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

The UT Administration may allow restaurants and hotels to serve liquor under Unlock 2.0 from July 1.

Recently, the Hotels and Restaurants Association, Chandigarh, submitted a memorandum to the Administration to allow them to serve liquor on the pattern of Punjab and extend the dine-in timings till 11 pm.

A senior UT official said the request was under consideration, but the final decision would be taken tomorrow on the basis of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs for Unlock 2.0 .

He said the Administration was also likely to allow Apni Mandis to operate from July 1.

The Administration is likely to follow the fresh directions issued by the MHA on implementation of curfew from 10 pm to 5 am.

Punjab has already allowed restaurants to serve alcohol. “As the UT is governed by the provisions of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, allow us to serve alcohol in hotels/restaurants and other hospitality industry as per the guidelines. It will ensure more revenue to the Administration and also provide some relief to the hospitality industry,” the association stated. “It will be a big support if the Administration allows us to serve alcohol. Limited timings are preventing us from operating in full steam,” said association president Arvinder Pal Singh.

He said hoteliers continued to face huge losses due to short operational hours, non-serving of liquor and other reasons during the pandemic. “The lockdown has hit our business badly and it’s high time our industry got some relief,” he said. “With little business, most restaurants have limited their work to home delivery and takeaways. “It is difficult to recover even our operational costs,” he said.

At a recent meeting, the UT Administration had discussed the representation of the association for allowing alcohol during dining at restaurants and also in banquet halls during functions. However, the UT had asked them to wait till the present lockdown/unlocking instructions ended on June 30.

Three more infected in city, 13 recover

Chandigarh: Three new cases of Covid were reported from the city on Monday, taking its tally to 434. A 60-year-old woman from Sector 29 was reported positive for the virus. Her son, who is her only household contact, will now undergo Covid test. She has another son and a daughter, who live at Sector 33 and Panjab University, respectively. A 39-year-old woman from Sector 23 was also found infected. She has three family members, who have been sampled for a Covid test, and three family contacts living in the building where she resides. Her source of infection is not known. Besides, a 15-year-old boy from Sector 41 also contracted the infection. He is a family contact of a Covid patient. Meanwhile, 13 patients defeated the virus, taking the number of Covid recoveries in the city to 349. TNS

Final call after MHA guidelines

• Recently, the Hotels and Restaurants Association, Chandigarh, had submitted a memorandum to the Administration to allow them to serve liquor on the pattern of Punjab and extend the dine-in timings till 11 pm
• A senior UT official said the request was under consideration, but the final decision would be taken after receiving the guidelines from the Ministry of Home Affairs for Unlock 2.0 on Tuesday

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