Hyderabad: Night curfew to hit bar & restaurants hard

Hyderabad: Night curfew in Telangana has brought fresh woes to the liquor traders and management of bar and restaurants who already bore the brunt of complete lockdown imposed last year. The threat of losing livelihoods of thousands of workers employed in the bars and food serving outlets was looming large.

The licensed wine shop dealers worried about the drop in sale of liquor on a daily basis under the impact of night curfew. The managements of bars and restaurants said that the only option before them is the closure of liquor and food supply services as they were already in dire straits due to steep fall in the business in Hyderabad and other major urban areas for the last two weeks due to a surge in the corona positive cases in the State under the impact of second wave of corona virus.

Telangana Wine Dealers' Association leader D Venkateswar Rao said that liquor sales had already dropped by 25 per cent to 30 per cent in the current corona crisis. In the normal days, liquor sales between 9 pm and 11 pm were comparatively high during the day.

After clamping night curfew, he said the total liquor sales would be reduced by 40 per cent. "We paid hefty licence fees to run wine shops. But the profits are zero in the current season. The possibility of falling into the debt trap by the wine dealers is not ruled out," he said.

Bars and restaurants were already on the verge of closure due to the corona pandemic The only option before the management is to shut the shops under the impact of night curfew.

Hyderabad is the hub of bar and restaurants in the state and provides employment to around 20,000 workers in the city. If the establishments are closed during nights, workers will lose their livelihoods.