In step to ease and facilitate the licensing regulations of restaurants, eateries and hotels in the national capital, Lieutenant Governor, V.K. Saxena, formed a committee of senior officials of the concerned departments and agencies.

The committeee, which will be headed by Principal Secretary (Home) and will comprise of senior representatives of the I-T Department, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), MCD, Delhi Police, Fire Services and NDMC, will inter alia priorities on curtailing the number of licences by tweaking and eliminating archaic regulations rooted in subordinate legislation, minimum documentation, fixed timelines for grant of licences, complete online processes embedded in a single window portal and promotion of self-regulation etc.

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The committee will be able to co-opt members and will take comprehensive inputs from stakeholder hotel and restaurant associations etc.

Apart from providing an overall fillip to the hospitality sector, this would pave the way for late night dining, Alfresco eateries and dining in the open, said the L-G office.

Saxena has directedd the committee to submit its report within 15 days. The move comes in continuation with the L-G’s recent decision to allow 314 establishments, including online delivery of food, medicines, logistics, transport and travel services, other essential commodities apart from KPOs and BPOs, whose applications were pending since as 2016, to operate on a 24×7 basis in the national capital.

As of now, hospitality establishments, entrepreneurs, especially those from small and medium segments, in the city are subjected to registration and inspecting processes of Delhi Police, local bodies (MCD & NDMC), fire department and the DPCC.

“These processes and requirements are often found to be outdated, unnecessarily restrictive, coercive and discretionary. They have often led to complaints of harassment and corruption as well, resulting in the fact that unlike other global and Indian cities, Delhi’s hospitality sector has yet not achieved its full potential,” the L-G office announced in a statement.

As per the L-G office, the step will be crucial for industry and will not only come as big relief to the pandemic-hit hospitality industry, but more importantly, deliver a major boost to the ‘night-time economy’, generating greater employment and ensuring economic growth.

(With Inputs from IANS)