VIJAYAWADA: The State government has issued an order permitting all hotels, restaurants and eateries to remain open from 5 am to midnight. However, the fresh order won't be applicable to bars and restaurants, since they will stick to their present timings.
Special Chief Secretary G Anantha Ramu issued the order on Monday. The government had extended the hotel, restaurant and eateries' timings till midnight from 10:30 pm in October 2018. But, following the outbreak of COVID-19, the business timings were curtailed. The businesses were asked to shut by 10 pm.
The Centre asked the States to consider appropriately to discontinue the orders and guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act. The Union Health Ministry did not extend the Covid regulations after March 14. Hence, the State government considered the plea of the Andhra Pradesh Hoteliers Association to extend the business timings.
The association, in its representation to the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) stated that the enforcement and police authorities increased pressure on the hotels and restaurants to shut by 10 pm, causing higher operational costs to them.