Hotels To Remain Open Till Midnight In Hyderabad

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HYDERABAD: As part of its move to make Hyderabad a global city, the Telangana government has decided to allow hotels, restaurants and eateries to operate up to midnight (12 am). Till now, eateries had to wind up their operations by 11 pm in Greater Hyderabad.

Accordingly, the labour, employment training & factories department on Thursday issued a GO (Ms No. 16) stating that the government has decided to permit hotels, restaurants and eateries to function between 5 am and 12 midnight across Telangana. Though the new closure timings were formally announced on Thursday, eateries in Greater Hyderabad were allowed to function beyond 11 pm after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government came to power in June 2014.

Apart from hotels and restaurants, labour officials said even road-side food joints, Irani cafes, bakeries and ice-cream parlours would be allowed to run their businesses till midnight.

"It is a welcome decision. With summer holidays on, more families are turning up at restaurants. We have high footfall between 7 pm and 11 pm. The one-hour extension of closure timing will give them more quality time," Mohammed Abdul Mohsi, director of Pista House, told TOI.

"Right now, our restaurant closes by 10.30 pm. Extension of time will certainly improve our business by at least 10-20% and customers too can have dinner in a relaxed atmosphere rather than rushing through at the closing hour," Aji Nair, vice-president, Mirah Hospitality, which owns Khandani Rajdhani, Banjara Hills, said.

The government has taken this decision on a request from the Telangana State Hotels, Restaurants, Eateries Association that they be permitted to open their businesses till midnight.

"It will benefit a lot of tourists since they will get food even after 11 pm. Also, it will also benefit the IT crowd and people who work till late in the night," Jagdish Rao, secretary, Telangana Hotels' Association said.

However, the labour department officials warned owners of eateries not to operate beyond the new deadline or else they would be prosecuted under the AP Shops and Establishments Act 1988.

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