HYDERABAD:The police siren will no longer sound at 11 pm sending diners scurrying. The Telangana government has today granted permission to all hotels, restaurants and eateries to operate until midnight.
“In the circumstances explained by the Commissioner of Labour on the request of Telangana State Hotels, Restaurants, Eateries Association, the Government has decided to permit Hotels, Restaurants and Eateries to remain open till midnight,” said Harpreet Singh, secretary to the Government. The move is also expected to help boost tourism.
Earlier, all eateries were allowed to stay open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Now, they can operate from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight. Officials, however, clarified that the order is limited to eateries and that it does not include bars or other places where alcohol is served.
“Restaurants which serve alcohol are not included in this order. This applies to eateries so that more people can find hygienic food to eat,” said Harpreet Singh. Several officials in the Labour Department revealed that they had received requests from Hotels’ Association to extend the permissible time to midnight to enhance tourism and night life in the city. However, Singh said that the primary reason for the extension was to ensure people get healthy food even during night time. “Many people who work till late in the night or employees who work night shifts are forced to eat fast food on the streets since restaurants remain shut. As a result, they often end up eating unhealthy food. Keeping that in mind, we decided to extend the timings till midnight,” Singh added.
“The hour-long extension will not impact the police force in a big way,” reasoned V Satyanarayana, DCP (South Zone), Hyderabad City Police.