CM announces fire audit reforms for hospitality sector

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday announced major reforms for hotels and restaurants, including approval for third-party fire audits and a single window licencing regime.

Addressing the Viksit Delhi, Viksit Tourism and Hospitality Summit 2025, jointly organised by The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) and Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI), the CM said third-party fire audits would ease operations for hoteliers and restaurant owners. She added that “such an audit would be a key step towards ease of doing business,” and noted that earlier governments had kept “critical issues like issuance of licences pending,” which the present administration was addressing on priority.

She said steps would also be taken to ensure that approvals required from MCD,

DDA and the Delhi Government were issued through a single window system.

On combating pollution, the CM advised hotels and restaurants to install mist fogging systems. “Mist fogging has already commenced in and around Delhi in certain prominent places, and this exercise will be further expanded in other parts to drastically curtail pollution,” she said. FHRAI president Surendra Kumar Jaiswal presented an affordable dry fog technology as a sustainable

alternative to anti-smog guns that could reduce water usage by nearly 90 per cent.

Jaiswal also praised the government’s policy decisions, noting that “in a single stroke she scrapped the mandatory ‘Eating House Licence’ and police clearance for the industry,” and welcomed the

assurance that fire licencing and multiple approvals would be simplified.

The CM said the government aimed to position Delhi as a prime destination for events and conferences, adding that past dispensations “have hardly taken measures for the development of the national capital.”

The summit also featured an exhibition of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) from seven states, showcasing regional and GI tagged produce. Ankita Jaiswal of HRANI said the initiative bridged a

long-standing gap between FPOs and hospitality.