E-Paper
Hazardous beauty standards: 1,569 parlours without licence says PMC
The PMC licensing department stated that the beauty parlours have been issued notices on grounds of not having a valid licence and if need be, cases will be filed against them if they fail to fulfil the eligibility criterion
PUNE The health department of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on November 19 issued notices to 150 beauty parlours in the city asking them why they were operational without valid licences.
The move comes after the department found that only 111 beauty parlours held valid licences out of 1,680 present in the city.
The PMC health and licensing department started carrying out a survey six months ago, to gauge the number of beauty parlours functioning in the city and whether they were paying taxes to the civic body.
The PMC licensing department stated that the beauty parlours have been issued notices on grounds of not having a valid licence and if need be, cases will be filed against them if they fail to fulfil the eligibility criterion. PMC has maintained that even to cut hair, a licence under Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (BPMC) act 376 is essential.
Dr Manisha Naik, assistant health chief, PMC said “ It is mandatory for beauty parlour owners to have a health department licence. Those found violating this condition have been issued notices and if they don’t apply for licences cases will be filed against them.”
Naik said that the survey was started after they received feedback from the tax department stating that the tax net could be expanded.
According to the BPMC Act, the license is awarded to a parlour owner after taking into account the capacity of the room and number of chairs. The PMC expects to earn Rs 3.90 crore from licensing alone.
Blades, creams and other types of waste generated from parlours and customer hygiene is of crucial importance which makes it important to have a licence, according to criteria put forward by PMC health department.
Amit Solunke who runs a parlour in Hadapsar called Femme, said “ PMC is looting business persons without providing any facility. We will take legal action against civic body officials for attempting to tax and prosecute parlour owners.”
“It is a good move in terms of raising hygiene standards. However, PMC has been taxing way too many things without providing. PMC is only taking taxes which are discriminatory and choking the industry and business climate,” said Shamita Asthana, a beauty parlour regular.
