HRAWI Welcomes Maharashtra Govt’s Move to Abolish Police Licences for Hotels

By BW Hotelier THE HOTEL and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has welcomed the State Government’s recent directive to scrap all police licences required to run hospitality businesses. A Police circular to the effect states that now hotels, permit rooms and swimming pools within city limits will no longer require a police licence to operate a hotel establishment. The association had been strongly advocating this move since a long time along with the need to implement a single window licence clearance for the hospitality industry. With this decision, the industry is showing renewed enthusiasm and is hoping for the State to take progressive steps towards ease of doing business in the coming Financial Year. ’In a single stroke, the Chief Minister brought down this colonial rule. It goes to show that the government not only has acknowledged our woes but also has committed to eliminating them. The move also goes to reaffirm that the state is clearly looking at promoting tourism. Most importantly, it is an indicator of optimism and we feel positive that the following Financial Year would bring in a better time for hoteliers,’ said Bharat Malkani, President, HRAWI (see photo). While the government has taken a step towards plugging a hole in the system, hospitality is an industry that is tangled in a web of bureaucratic red tape. There are over 121 licenses that a hotel establishment needs to obtain and keep renewing each year to either start a new business or keep the operations running. ’This move clearly is progress and an important step. We are thankful to the Chief Minister for making this possible. We had been making several representations to the State at various levels indicating how many of the prevalent laws were in fact either obsolete or in some cases plain regressive. With the case of police licences and permissions being taken out of the way, some of our concerns have been addressed. We are hopeful that in the near future single window licence clearance will become operational. In most progressive countries hospitality sector besides being one of the key revenue generators also acts as a driver for business and tourism growth,’ concluded Kamlesh Barot, past-President, HRAWI.