NEW DELHI: The tourism department of the Delhi government has done away with the provision of approval required for standalone restaurants in the city. A statement issued by the government said that as per the directions of the CM Arvind Kejriwal, the department has notified termination of the clause under 'ease of doing business' initiative for the restaurant industry.
The notification is expected to provide major relief to the restaurant owners especially after a major economic downfall due to the COVID-19 lockdown. "The notification comes in the wake of a meeting convened by Kejriwal last month, wherein he directed various officials to remove hassles in the ease of doing business for the restaurant industry," it said.
The order issued by Tourism Secretary Manish Saxena on Tuesday said, "In terms of the decision taken by the Hon'ble Chief Minister, GNCT of Delhi in the meeting dated 07.10.2020 regarding Ease of Doing Business for Restaurants, the Voluntary Scheme of Granting Approval to the Standalone Restaurants being implemented by the Tourism Department, GNCT of Delhi is hereby discontinued immediately."
The scheme for granting approvals to restaurants was implemented by the union ministry of tourism, which was discontinued in June 2003. However, the state governments were asked to formulate their guidelines if they wished to implement the scheme.
The scheme was later adopted by the tourism department of the Delhi government in the same, which was formally launched in 2004 for all restaurants having more than 30 seats. During the meeting between Kejriwal and restaurants associations, several issues were reviewed to support the restaurant business in the national capital in October.
"In the meeting with the delegation of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the CM directed ministers and top officials of various departments and agencies to remove hassles in the ease of doing business for the restaurant industry. In the meeting, various decisions were taken for the economic revival of the hospitality industry in the national capital," said an official of the government.