Restaurants, hotels to remain open till midnight

Visakhapatnam: The government has decided to increase the timings of restaurants and hotels till mid-night across all cities in the state. The Andhra Pradesh Hoteliers Association (APHA) urged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to allow them to serve for another two more hours. Presently, they are shutting down by 10 pm.

Responding to the APHA’s request, the Chief Minister assured the members that he would direct the officials to issue orders allowing the hotels and restaurants to remain open till midnight. Currently, except in Vijayawada city, the police are not allowing any restaurants after 10 pm in other parts of the state. 

The police in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram, Eluru, Guntur and other cities are not allowing vendors and restaurants after 10.30 pm. The customers who are already in the restaurants will be served till 10.30 pm. Moreover, a large number of passengers coming and going from the cities are facing difficulties in finding food after 10 pm.

Except at the railway station and the bus stands, food courts are not available in other parts of the cities. As a result, they are forced to remain with an empty stomach. “The Chief Minister accepted our demand and assured to release orders allowing the restaurants and hotels to serve till midnight,” APHA general secretary Talluri Satyanarayana said.