Restaurant owners in Bengaluru have expressed disappointment over the plastic ban and sought more time to implement it.
Addressing reporters at a round table conference here on Friday, Ashish Kothare, head of the National Restaurant Association of India’s (NRAI) Bengaluru chapter, said the ban had caused operational disruption to the restaurant industry. “The government notification on plastic ban speaks of 10 specific items of plastic being banned, but the field officers insist on penalising commercial establishments for the use of plastic items which are not among the 10 listed items.”
Restaurant owners said they were also facing various other issues, such as difficulty in getting fresh bar licences, a steep hike in the licence fee, “lack of transparency” in the Excise Department, among others.
NRAI president Riyaaz Amlani said that no new bar licences had been issued in Bengaluru since 1992. He said there was a lot of confusion over issuance and renewal of licence to hotels, bars and restaurants. “The Excise Department needs to bring transparency in licencing. Some provisions in the Karnataka Excise Act have become obsolete and need to be changed,” Amlani said.
Kothare said the NRAI had partnered with nonprofit ‘Citizengage’, the Rotary Club and the Bangalore Political Action committee (BPAC) to create awareness among bulk waste generators and restaurants on waste segregation.
The NRAI, which represents independent and chain restaurants, bars, café owners and operators across India, has over 75 members in Bengaluru.
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