Mumbai restaurateurs to seek removal of 8 nods right away

MUMBAI: Restaurants and bars want the BMC to immediately scrap certain archaic and overlapping licence requirements to check corruption.
Restaurateurs are in the process of preparing their wish list to be submitted to the BMC for removal of outdated rules and no-objection certificates that seem unnecessary in the current business context.
The list of clearances and NOCs required today to set up shop is a long one; restaurant and bar owners in the city need anywhere between 40 and 70 clearances from the BMC, the fire brigade and the police.They say they have to pay speed money at every step of the way.
Adarsh Shetty, president of industry body Ahar, said there were at least eight licences, permissions and NOCs that could go immediately and this figure could even be increased to 25. Other approvals could be clubbed together to reduce the number of obstacles in the path of hospitality business.
“The BMC issues food safety or health licence which FSSAI also provides and it is a clear duplication,” Shetty said. “A liquor service licence has to be taken from the BMC, which the excise also issues.”
Sukesh Shetty, Ahar general secretary, said some approvals such as for neon signs, rolling shutters, grinder-mixers and cupboards, coal storage had become outdated. He said there was a proposal to reduce to 15 the 40 to 70 licences and permissions required and operate a one-window system but it was taking time to materialize.