The night curfew, which will be in place till April 20, is also being imposed in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumakuru and Udupi-Manipal.Karnataka’s decision to announce a 10-day night curfew in Bengaluru, starting Saturday, has triggered concerns in the local bar and restaurant and eatery industry. Terming this decision as “unscientific”, Bruhat Bengaluru Hoteliers Association President, PC Rao said that generally, the business of hotel, bars, and restaurants and eateries peaks after 9 pm and goes on till past midnight.
“We had already incurred huge losses since the pandemic’s outbreak in March 2020. First we faced lockdown and uncertainty of people to come out for dinner. Slowly, people were willing to go out to eat out, at this juncture, the government announced its decision, that too after 10 pm,” he said.
He wondered who would benefit from this night curfew? “Yes, all will cooperate, if the COVID-19 virus activates only after 10 pm This is just an unscientific decision… we are going to apprise the government soon,” he said.
Rao added that no sane person can agree to a partial night curfew as it is not a solution. “The government is overlooking all the other issues, the economy which is slowly reviving, will stop. There is no help to any of our restaurant people – but still they want to hit our economy again. This is a very bad decision taken by the government,” he said.
Bengaluru and six other cities in Karnataka will enforce a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am starting Saturday, the government announced on Thursday.
The curfew, which will be in place till April 20, will also be imposed in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumakuru and Udupi-Manipal.
On Saturday, Bengaluru reported 5,576 COVID-19 cases, while the state in total reported 7,955 active cases. While 46 new COVID-19 related deaths were reported from Karnataka, 29 among these were from Bengaluru. Notably, the city has reported 26,705 cases and 110 deaths in just the first 8 days in April.
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