Unlock 3: Hotels, hospitality services, street hawkers to operate in Delhi; know what’s open, what is not

Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government has decided to authorize hotels, street hawkers, hospitality services to ply and put an end to the night curfew hours implemented between 10 pm and 5 am under Centre’s Unlock 3 plan, the third phase of the gradual revoking of restrictions announced to halt the spread of the pathogen (Covid-19).

The Delhi government will grant weekly markets to be operative for a week on a trial basis to confirm if the social distancing norms are followed. An official order to apply the relaxation in the national capital will probably be issued by Saturday, said a government official.

Although the Centre has given its consent to gyms and yoga centres to operate, the Delhi government is yet to come to a decision.

A senior government official stated that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal in his meeting with the Delhi Chief Minister on Wednesday had conveyed his reluctance to open gyms and yoga centres as of this moment. “So, the chief minister has said that a decision on this will be taken in a week’s time after consulting with al stakeholders,” an official said.

A media advisor to the chief minister stated that marriages, events with the restriction of 50 people can now be conducted in banquet halls.

The Ministry of Home Affairs put out a plan, ‘Unlock 3’, on Wednesday put together after receiving feedback from state and in discussion held with central ministries and departments, to open up more activities outside containment zones.

“These decisions are in continuation of several important decisions taken by CM Arvind Kejriwal in the past few days to ensure Delhi’s economy, which was impacted severely by the lockdown, gets back on track,” said a statement issued by the office of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday.

In regards to hotels, the statement stated, “Since hotels of Delhi are no longer linked to hospitals, Delhi government has also decided to allow normal functioning of hotels and hospitality services, as already permitted under Centre’s unlock guidelines.”

On Wednesday, the Delhi government had de-linked around 40 hotels and 77 banquet halls attached to different hospitals to increase the city’s Covid-19 bed capacity.

President of Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association, Sandeep Khandelwal, stated: “It is a great relief for thousands of people who are directly or indirectly employed with the hotel industry – from managers, housekeeping staff, chefs and waiters to plumbers, electricians and scores of other people engaged in different roles. Now that the economy is reviving, it may take a month or two, but business will get back to normal very soon.”

Gym owners stated that they look for the government to permit them to operate soon. Chirag Sethi, vice-president Delhi Gym Association, said: “This is a very tough situation for us. We expect the government to allow gyms to open as soon as possible because livelihood of over a lakh people in Delhi depend on fitness industry. More wait will cause more revenue loss for the industry which had been completely shut for over 120 days. Gym owners have already started sanitisation of their gyms and are preparing SOPs (standard operating procedures) to operate gyms and fitness centres. We will meet the CM tomorrow and appeal the government to open gyms without any further delay.”

National convener of National Association of Street Vendors in India, Arbind Singh stated: “It is a welcome move because street vendors are struggling since the lockdown was implemented. Now, the government should urgently implement the street vendor law so that designated spots can be earmarked for them. That would help ensuring better safety norms and social distancing in the days to come.”

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