Banquet halls: MCG committee to conduct survey, issues notices for regularisation

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) constituted a four-member committee for surveying the total number of banquet halls in the city and subsequently, issuing notices to regularise them

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) constituted a four-member committee for surveying the total number of banquet halls in the city and subsequently, issuing notices to regularise them.

So far, only one banquet hall is registered with the authorities. MCG will now conduct a survey and call for regularisation of these buildings. (HT Archive)

According to the MCG records, there are at least 76 banquet halls in the city, of which only one banquet hall is registered with the authorities. MCG officials said that the committee was formed on the directions of the MCG commissioner, Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, on Monday.

After a survey, MCG will issue notices to banquet hall owners, giving them a month to regularise their building, failing which the civic body will start sealing their properties from November, which is usually the peak wedding season.

“Preparations for the survey have been started. I have set a month’s deadline for officials to compile a report on the findings from the survey and submit it. After that, notices will be issued to banquet hall owners to regularise their buildings as per the policy, failure of which will lead to sealing of their structure,” Ahuja said.

Ahuja said that the survey was initiated based on the observations of the Haryana Lokayukta that banquet halls need to be regularised. He said that regularising such properties will ensure that banquet halls adhere to safety norms, crowd capacity, adequate parking space, and other such measures, besides providing an increase in the revenue collection of the MCG for the issuance of licences.

Non-adherence to safety norms has been a matter of concern for the MCG, especially in regards to fire safety, since an incident in November 2018 wherein a banquet hall in Sector 9 caught fire. Although the intensity of the blaze was small, it took fire tenders nearly 25 minutes to access the site of fire as the entry of the banquet hall was narrow.

Regularisation of banquet halls was first initiated in 2014, when a solitary banquet hall was regularised. Since then, the MCG has regularly conducted drives, sealing 10 banquet halls in March 2018 in the latest one, for operating without licences. In March, the MCG House also approved the regularisation of banquet halls in the city.

Anil Rao, the president of the Haryana Party Lawns’ Association, said that banquet hall owners will approach the MCG with their concerns about the existing policy.

“The main issue with the current policy is that it asks one-time payment of nearly ₹1 crore for regularising a banquet hall. Instead, the MCG should adopt the policy on the lines of Rajasthan, where the policy is renewed on an annual basis through the payment of ₹2-3 lakh, depending on the size of the banquet hall. This is far more economically viable and the preferred option for most banquet hall owners,” Rao said.

Rao said that representatives of the association will meet MCG officials to reach an agreement on the matter so that there are no hurdles during the peak wedding season in November and December, which accounts for around 70% of their annual income.