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Street eateries in Pune not adhering to 5pm deadline
PUNE Even though the Pune Municipal Corporation order states that only delivery and takeaway from restaurants is allowed after 4pm, street eateries in most of the areas continue to operate dine-in, with the police turning a blind eye
PUNE Even though the Pune Municipal Corporation order states that only delivery and takeaway from restaurants is allowed after 4pm, street eateries in most of the areas continue to operate dine-in, with the police turning a blind eye.
The PMC order states that dine-in with 50% capacity till 4pm is allowed on weekdays and after that take away service till 11pm; on weekends only parcel service is allowed.
The order also applies to street eateries. “The action is taken every day by police stations at the local level. On the first few days warnings were issued, while we have also started collecting fines at many places,” said Amitabh Gupta, Pune’s police commissioner.
The street stalls on Baner road and Bharati Vidyapeeth were full on Tuesday evening.
Rajendra Tilak, a resident of Pashan said, “All the street eateries continue to provide service at their stalls. I have seen police taking rounds, but they are not taking any actions.”
The owner of Kunal chaat on Baner road, on condition of anonymity, said, “Timings for serving at stalls should be increased. Our peak period for customers starts after 4pm and PMC allows only parcel service after. It is hurting business badly therefore, many street eateries continues to remain functional.”
Tea stalls also remain functional at most places.
“Most of the customers cannot carry tea for long distances and hence, we continue serving tea by keeping the shutter half-open. We make sure people dont gather at one place and they tend to stay far away from each other,” said he owner of tea shop owner on Pashan road.
In Kondhwa and Camp area street eateries are functioning till 9pm.
Oumar Aga, a frequent customer of eateries in Camp, said, “For a couple of days only parcel service was allowed, but in the last few days we are allowed to dine-in even after 7pm. Eateries were functioning till 10 pm yesterday. Although non- essential shops closed by 5pm.”
Non-essential shops following orders
Laxmi road, a major shopping centre, is shutting down completely by 5pm. However, traders are unhappy with the ongoing restrictions.
“Postivity rate is under control still traders have been told to shut their shops at 4pm. We continue to remain a soft target and the administration is not concerned about traders. We continue to follow order but we expect changes soon,” said Mahendra Pitaliya, secretary, Federation of Trade Association of Pune.
Reena Goswami, owner of boutique in Kothrud said, “PMC should allow us to remain functional even after 4pm. Current order are hampering our business hours.”
