Night curfew in Pune district from 11pm-6am; hotels, restaurants and bars to shut at 11 pm

The Pune district administration, on Saturday, announced curbs on the movement of residents during the night hours, equivalent to the night curfew that city witnessed during lockdown.

Following a meeting with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao said that in the light of the increasing number of Covid patients in Pune district, there will be restrictions on public movement in the district (including Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and rural areas) from 11pm to 6 am.

However, essential services, such as medical stores and hospitals, milk and vegetable supply, newspaper distribution and transport of food grains, will be excluded from the restrictions. This order will be implemented from Monday, February 22, midnight.

Rao also announced that hotels, restaurants and bars will be allowed to be operate only till 11 pm. “Hoteliers will have to manage the timings by advancing the last orders as public movement will be restricted from 11 pm onward,” said Rao.

The timings for other shops are unchanged.

“We have taken a detailed review of the Covid situation in Pune district in the meeting. As a precautionary measure we have taken some important decisions in this meeting,” said Rao, addressing the media after the meeting.

“As an advanced precaution, public movement, except for essential activities, will be prohibited from 11 pm to 6 am. Closing timings of hotels, bars and restaurants will be 11 pm,” said Rao.

Earlier, on February 10, Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar had extended the closure timings for bars, restaurants, food courts and banquet halls, till 1 am.

Pune Mayor Muralidhar Mohol warned of action against citizens if they are found roaming in the city without valid reasons.

“Do not travel or roam around in the city after 11 pm unnecessarily. Strict legal action will be taken against those violating this order. Hotels and bars will have to be closed before 11 pm. Separate detailed guidelines will be issued by PMC regarding this,” Mohol tweeted.

“Our business was just coming on track and these new restrictions have been imposed. This deadline will impact our business at least by 10-15 per cent. Though the closing timings of hotels and bars were extended to 1 am, very few areas had customer movement after 11 pm. When such restrictions are imposed people get scared. It will surely impact our business,” said Ganesh Shetty, president, Pune restaurant and hoteliers association.

Rajesh Deshmukh, district collector, Pune, has already ordered authorities to conduct surprise inspections at marriage halls, multiplexes, theatres, schools, coaching classes, gardens, religious places, shopping malls, and restaurants, to take action against Covid violations such as not wearing of masks, not following social distancing and improper sanitisation arrangements.

Rural Pune also under night curfew

The order on night restrictions of movement will also be applicable to rural parts of Pune besides the city areas. Abhinav Deshmukh, superintendent of Pune Rural Police said, “There will be restrictions on night movements in rural areas as well. That order is applicable to the whole district. Detailed orders will be issued from the collector’s office.”