Civic body finds four more establishments flouting COVID rules, including crowding and maskless patrons, during late-night drive on Sunday, civic chief warns not to force him to take drastic measures
There were 275 people at the Bombay Adda in Santacruz on Sunday. Pic/Courtesy: BMC
With four more establishments, including night clubs and restaurants, having been penalised along with maskless patrons on Sunday night, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has warned the city to not force it to impose a night curfew ahead of Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
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Civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal has warned that the COVID scare has not gone
Last week, Municipal Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal had spoken about gross negligence in restaurants and pubs and about the action taken against Epitome restaurant in Lower Parel. Despite his warnings about strict action, the civic body has received many complaints about resto-bars, restaurants and night clubs not following rules on closing times and the number of visitors.
During its drive against such establishments, the BMC filed an FIR against Bombay Adda at Linking Road, Santacruz where people had gathered in large numbers and 275 patrons found without a mask at midnight. The BMC collected R30,000 in fines and gave a show-cause notice to the nightclub.
Similar action was taken against three other places but FIRs were not filed. Hotel Midtown Pritam in Dadar East was open till 1 am and 120 people inside it were not wearing masks, resulting in fines amounting to R9,000. In Rude Lounge, Malad, 75 patrons were found without masks at 11.45 pm and Rs 1,000 was collected in fines and in Bhagwati restaurant in Kandivli, 90 people were found without masks at 11.59 pm and Rs 2,400 was collected as fines. In all, 560 people were fined and total fines of Rs 43,200 were collected.
"COVID-19 is not over. The corporation does not want to impose a night curfew. But citizens should not be causing havoc around Christmas and New Year’s Eve time and force us into taking drastic measures," said Chahal.
What hotels say
Shivanand Shetty, president, Association of Hotel and Restaurant (AHAR), claimed that there are very few cases of negligence and that most restaurants associated with AHAR are following the norms. "We have messaged our members to follow COVID protocols after BMC’s action last week," Shetty said.
He said allowing events with a large number of people has to be stopped immediately, but some times restaurants cannot deny service to customers at night and they cannot even ask them to leave the place immediately. Senior vice-president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) Pradeep Shetty was unavailable for comment.
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