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The Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to allow opening of bars and clubs has brought cheers to liquor lovers and also made bar/club owners feel elated after a gap of nine months. Nightlife at bars and clubs returned on Wednesday with customers making a beeline for their swigs of choice.
In an order issued on Monday, the excise commissioner said that bars and clubs located outside containment zones will be allowed to open with the condition that Covid protocol under unlock guidelines by central and state government be followed in no uncertain terms.
As per the order, 50 per cent of the total capacity of customers will be permissible at a time while social distancing norms have to be followed strictly. Bar/club owners will have to ensure cleanliness inside the premises where customers were to be served with beer or liquor and hand sanitisers be placed at the tables.
The staff of the clubs/bars will have to wear gloves and face masks all along. The body temperature of entrants will be checked with infra-red thermometers and customers with above-normal temperature will not be allowed entry.
Media incharge of Liquor Sellers’ Welfare Association Devesh Agrawal welcomed the state government’s decision and said that the move would end the crisis that the bar/club owners were facing. He said that the customers desirous of taking swigs would also be happy and appealed for following the Covid protocol.
Meanwhile, Bar and Restaurant Association of Uttar Pradesh asked the state government for relaxation in annual licence fees and taxes to save them from hardships.
A delegation of the association had a meeting with the Chief Minister on Tuesday. In a letter, association’s general secretary RK Jaiswal said that bar and restaurant business was one of the highest payers of revenue to the state government but they had to be closed for nine months (from March 20 till date). “Most of the restaurant bar owners had shut down their business and they are starving now. The government has asked us to deposit Rs 2.5 lakh which is 25 per cent of annual license fee as security deposit. Since a bar/restaurant is a permanent business, we were never asked to pay a security deposit. The security deposit was being paid by those having temporary licenses. The state government should exempt us from this security deposit,” he said.
The association further demanded to exempt fixed charge of electricity supply, rebate in house tax and water tax, fix Nagar Nigam Tax as Rs 500 which had been raised as Rs 50,000 annually from Rs 500 annually and to lower the fee for 3 hours to five hours (the charges are take as per hour after mid night) as they had already suffered irreparable losses due to lockdown.