Kolhapur eateries start dine-in service, but people stay away

Kolhapur: Even though restaurants across Kolhapur district got permission to allow dine-in with no more than 50% of the seating capacity, the response from people was lukewarm.Kolhapur district continues to remain under level 3 restrictions of Covid-19 and till Friday the restaurants have been allowed to remain open till 4pm. After that the restaurants can stay open till 8pm but only for giving takeaways. Pruthviraj Jagtap, a restaurant owner at Mirajkar Tikti, said, “Dine-in facility started from today after a gap of three months, but people are still now aware of it. Thus we got poor response on the first day. In order to abide by the 50% occupancy rule we are allowing people to sit on alternate tables.”Sameer Patel, a customer at a cafe in Tarabai Park area, said, “It was a great feeling to sit with friends and enjoy a sip of coffee after a gap of more than three months. Hopefully, the hotels will get functional with full capacity so that we won’t have to wait to get a table"