80% banquet halls don’t have licence

New MCD policy requires halls to have health licence for their regularisation.

In what may pose health risks to unsuspecting visitors, it has been found that more than 80% of the banquet halls in the city are working without health licences.

The licences certify that a banquet hall fulfills all requirements of a healthy environment. This means that the kitchen should be clean and have a proper disposal system in place.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has compiled a list of banquet halls in the city and found that 90 of the 107 halls in the city have no such licences.

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According to officials, the state of affair is because the earlier policies framed by MCD did not made it mandatory for banquet halls to have a licence.

A senior official, however, said that things would change with the civic body coming up with a new health licensing policy that would be implemented soon.

“Earlier polices had made health licences mandatory only for restaurants. With DDA delaying the formulation of the policy, MCD has come up with a new policy of its own that requires banquet halls to have such a licence,” he said.

He added that the step was taken because many of these banquet halls needed to be regularised.

The health licences will be given after thorough investigation of the buildings and operation licences will be revoked if they are not found up to the mark.

“We have invited applications from banquet halls and have received a few. Once the checking is done, banquet halls will be more hygienic,” the official added.

MCD will start issuing provisional certificates soon. According to the list compiled by the MCD, there are 40 banquet halls in industrial areas, out of which only one has a health license.

In other areas of Delhi, there are 67 banquet halls out of which only 16 have such licenses. As these banquets do not have the licence, they are not paying parking or conversion charges. Once the policy is implemented, they will be liable to pay the charges.