Telangana State dilly-dallying on reopening pubs, bars

Hyderabad: Will the Telangana government follow Karnataka and permit the bars and pubs to reopen in Hyderabad? In Karnataka, all licensed liquor vendors, including bars, pubs, and microbreweries, have been permitted to sell liquor along with food with "up to 50 percent seating capacity," as Unlock-4 began from Tuesday.

Sources here indicate that the TS government is yet to take a final call on the issue. The general thinking in the official circles is that it may be better if they wait for some more time, maybe till the end of September before permitting bars and pubs to reopen since the intensity of the spread of coronavirus is just coming under control. If pubs and night parties are permitted, ensuring social distance and following protocols like wearing masks, etc may be difficult to enforce. This could result in a surge of cases once again. Creating a mechanism to control gatherings at bars is not an easy task and could invite new trouble for the law-enforcing agencies. One of the options before the government is to give permission to reopen fixing the number of visitors for each bar and ensure strict implementation of the same. Though CCTVs are there in every bar, the size of the crowd cannot be restricted unless there is a physical check by the law-enforcing agencies and that is what could be a new problem. Deploying policemen at every bar and pub is something that may not be so easy a task. Officials also fear that the possibility of the spread of the virus in bars and pubs is more because they function in halls where there are no windows and the doors would be closed. Even if the number of entrants to each pub and bar is restricted, maintaining social distancing inside would be impossible. The air conditioners inside the halls could spread virus among the visitors. SOP for ensuring for the cooks in the bars also needs to be different.

In the backdrop of these problems, the government prima facie is of the opinion that it would be better to wait at least till the end of September. Meanwhile, the excise officials have been asked to visit the bars for inspection and prepare a feasibility report. The bar owners, however, say that they incurred huge losses due to lockdown,bars and pubs reopen in hyderabad and the delay in allowing them to resume trade will further intensify their problems. If the ban continues, they may have to close down the bars and pubs permanently.