Restobars at 50% capacity, strict vigil by officials as city rings in a New Year

Guests will be required to sit on alternate chairs and will be allowed access only if they wear a mask and submit themselves to thermal screening, the management of different city restobars have made clear in their rules for toned-down New Year’s celebrations this year .

This New Year’s Eve, all the restobars in the city will operate at 50% of their capacity, dance parties and live concerts will be missing, and a host of safety arrangements will be in place as authorities keep a strict watch to ensure all Covid-19 precautions are being followed.

A worker sanitizing the premises of Sandoz Restaurant before it reopens to the public, in Rajouri Garden, New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Guests will be required to sit on alternate chairs and will be allowed access only if they wear a mask and submit themselves to thermal screening, the management of different city restobars have made clear in their rules for toned-down New Year’s celebrations this year .

Delhi government officials said an increased number of government and police teams will be out across the busy markets of the city to enforce Covid-19 regulations and to prosecute violators.

A host of meetings between police and government agencies with representatives of hotels, restaurants and bars over the last week ended with business owners assuring that they’ll operate at half their capacity. While enforcement agencies will be out ensure social distancing on the streets, the onus of ensuring that only permissible number of guests are allowed in restaurants and bars will be on the owners.

“If the owners do not understand their responsibility, they’ll be booked under Indian Penal Code section 188 (disobedience to an order passed by a government servant) and under the Epidemic Diseases Act,” said Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (south).

In meetings with the police, restaurants and bars agreed on putting a cap on the number of guests in each business place. “There are hardly any place that will have a gathering of more than 100 guests,” said another senior police officer.

The officer said that police personnel in civil dresses will be randomly visiting restaurants and bars to count the number of guests on their premises.

The celebrations are expected to be relatively simple this year. Manish Kumar Agrawal, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said that restaurant and bar owners have agreed not to hold special programmes which could lead to crowding, in view of the pandemic.

So, there will no usual dance parties, rain dance or even live music concerts, said Manpreet Singh, treasurer of National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI).

“We are unlikely to organise even live music concerts, not only because of Covid-19 restrictions but also due to lack of audience. We have already suspended live music events at restaurants because of lesser number of patrons due to the pandemic. However, light music is allowed,” he said.

Akshay Anand, owner Toy Room Club at Ophelia Ashoka Hotel said, “We are not doing any events nor are we calling any special artist for the night (New Year’s eve), because big artists attract huge crowds, and we don’t want people to stand and dance and take any chances with social distancing. We will only do an à la carte menu dinner as per the government’s standard operating procedures.”

The NRAI has also prepared its own standard operating procedures, under which thermal screening and entry of guests with masks on will be mandatory. Business owners said many restaurants and bars already are equipped with special ultraviolet light filters (used in hospitals to kill germs and viruses), air filters and air purifiers.

NRAI treasurer Singh said that all staff members at restaurants will don face shields and hand gloves.

Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Traders Association, said that while the restaurant owners and staff will ensure there is no lapse at their end, it is the government administration and the police that must take charge of ensuring that laid down norms are not violated.

“We will ensure that no crowding takes place inside restaurants and shops, but onus lies with the government to discourage revellers at public places from violating norms,” Bhargava said.

The police said they formed separate teams to check tviolations. “We have constituted separate teams for ensuring there are no incidents of cracker bursting, harassment and public drinking,” said DCP Thakur.

Several stretches of roads have been identified as being notorious for motorcycle stunts and drunk driving and police barricades have been set up at those points.

The police in some districts will also be equipped with sound level metres to ensure the music is below the permissible limits.

Delhi lieutenant Governor, Anil Baijal, on Wednesday chaired a meeting with the police to strengthen their presence in key areas and to ensure “strict enforcement of Covid compliant behaviour” and women safety.

The Delhi government, meanwhile, is scaling up its awareness campaigns, especially targeting the younger population, even as it gears up to prosecute violators on the eve of New Year, said Delhi’s chief secretary, Vijay Dev.

Over the last one week, a senior official in the revenue department said, several meetings had been held with market associations, resident welfare associations, trader groups, and management bodies of prominent shopping arcades, pubs, restaurants and hotels.

Delhi’s revenue minister Kailash Gahlot said, “We have to be extra alert this year in the light of the potential spread of the new UK variant of Covid-19. We cannot let our guards down.”

During the festive season , when there were reports of crowding in markets across the city, an average of around 6,122 cases were reported every day in November and 3,451 cases were reported in October .

Till Wednesday, four cases of the new Covid-19 strain that has emerged in UK — which experts fear could be more contagious — had been recorded in Delhi, putting the government on high alert. The overall Covid-19 situation in Delhi seems to be in control with the number of cases and overall positivity rate steadily declining in Delhi over the last one month.

As on Wednesday, Delhi recorded 677 new Covid-19 cases -- with a positivity rate of 0.80% -- and 21 new deaths, the government’s health bulletin said.