THD NewsDesk, New Delhi: On Wednesday, at a meeting convened by Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided that restaurants in the capital city will be allowed to conduct business, round-the-clock. Amidst the raging pandemic at hand and severe financial losses, this news has relieved restaurant owners in the city to a major extent. The need for tourism licenses has also been junked.
The Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also in attendance at the conference. Sisodia mentioned that steps should be undertaken for restaurants to pay excise by the 31st of March, in contrast to the existing deadline of the 28th of February. He also stated that the restaurant owners should be allowed to pay a quarterly licence fee without interest.
Along with this key announcement, other directives were issued, which includes instigating a process to discard police licences and health trade licenses from local bodies for restaurants. This move is aimed at scrapping ”permit raj” in the industry. CM Kejriwal further ordered the abolishment of health trade licenses issued by municipal corporations to restaurants, within 10 days. Into the bargain, the excise department even agreed to evaluate the subsisting policy of an automatic annual increment of 10% in the licence fees.
The Delhi government also stated that such a gambit will help to generate employment in the industry, through higher demand. This will also set a paradigm of the ”Delhi Model” of ease of doing business, according to the authorities.
