With what comes in as a major thrust to the nightlife scene of Mumbai, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis issued instructions to the city authorities to set up special designated zones in South Mumbai where restaurants, pubs, bars, cafes and entertainment hotspots will remain open throughout the night.
Non Residential areas in South Mumbai - Veer Nariman Road, Ballard Pier and Horniman Circle will be the first few areas where this project will be launched. The project will be tested for six months and will be tried out on Fridays and Saturdays till 4 am. The idea behind this is to allow nightlife and culture to flourish smoothly without disturbing the residents. ‘Such special entertainment zones would be replicated in other parts of the city after gauging the response to the pilot scheme’ reported The Indian Express quoting government officials. The proposal to have nightlife zones had been pending since the last 4 years pertaining to the city’s law and order. The Hindustan Times reported that ‘Shiv Sena’s Aditya Thackeray had been rooting for this proposal since the last two years and had also met Fadnavis to get it off the ground in February, this year.
The CM has also directed special orders to encourage food trucks in the city that never sleeps, especially in business districts and tourists spots. This decision comes after Mumbai’s first food truck park shut down owing to lack of legal framework, permissions and difficulty in dealing with various licenses from BMC and Food & Drugs Administration (FDA). These issues were discussed in a meeting with the NRAI (National Restaurants Association of India) and it was decided that the process of acquiring permissions will be simplified by streamlining the legal framework. The CM also added that women self-help groups in Mumbai could also benefit from it.
The delegates also discussed the recent shut down of rooftop bars after it was found that they had been using one day permits meant for special functions to commercially serve liquor. The CM has asked the officials to consider the feasibility of framing an independent liquor permit policy for rooftop bars. The Indian Express reported officials saying that the Mumbai Municipality too will take up the much-delayed proposal to permit rooftop restaurants in parts of the city soon.
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