A new proposal approved by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ensured that restaurants, cafes and hotels in Delhi can operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week after Diwali. A total of 314 hotels have gotten permission to function 24*7 in Delhi.
This move is expected to boost the nightlife of the nation’s capital as well as generate employment opportunities and better facilities during the night. BPOs, KPOs, restaurants, eateries, online food delivery services, medication centres, logistics and other necessary things will all be operational at night in Delhi after Diwali.
A request for this proposal of legalising the night operation for hotels, restaurants and more had been pending since 2016. The LG VK Saxena took notice of it and acted immediately to give a green light to the proposal.
The decision will exempt the hotels and restaurants from Sections 14, 15 and 16 of the Delhi Shops Establishment Act of 1954 which barred night operations for many businesses. It is anticipated that Delhi will have better nightlife and improved levels of security owing to the businesses being allowed to operate 24*7.
LG has also criticised the function of various govt departments while approving the proposal. He noticed that many of the requests have been pending for years while some similar kinds of requests have been fast-tracked in the previous few years.
LG Secretariat released an official statement which reads, “Out of total of 346 pending applications, 18 applications of 2016, 26 applications of 2017, 83 applications of 2018, 25 applications of 2019, four applications of 2020 and 74 applications of 2021 had not been processed by the Labour Department on time. These applications were kept pending for no reason even as just two applications, one of 2017 and another of 2021 were processed and sent for approval, in a display of unexplained discretion on part of the Labour Department, which strongly indicated prevalence of corrupt practices.”
To those who love going out at night this decision of keeping the hotels, cafes and restaurants open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week has come as a delight surprise.