The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Thursday sealed three pubs on Road Number 45 of Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad and served notices to several others for various violations. The charges include illegal parking, tax evasion, absence of trade license and fire safety, and operation of pubs in residential areas.
Musharraf Faruqi, Zonal Commissioner, Khairatabad, took to Twitter on Thursday night to inform that 10 hotels and pubs on Jubilee Hills Road No 45 were raided and none were found to be in compliance with norms. “Tax arrears initiated and action taken against all,” he wrote on Twitter.
Inspected 10 Hotels/Pubs on Road No:45 JHills & “NONE” to be in compliance with norms
— Musharraf Faruqui (@musharraf_ias) March 7, 2019
Illegal floors/ No fire Safety/ Residential areas/ No trade license/ No setback/ No parking
Tax arrears collected & action initiated against all@KTRTRS @arvindkumar_ias @CommissionrGHMC pic.twitter.com/ctaAcdiWmn
The pubs were raided after the GHMC officials visited the places for property tax collection and noticed that some hotels/pubs were operating without even the mandatory food and trade license. The corporation closed a few famous pubs in the city, including Fat Pigeon, Dock 45 and Fusion 9, and certified them illegal.
Two others, namely Heart Cup Coffee and United Kitchens of India, were served notices for illegal parking spaces while Toll Gate, another restaurant, came under the scanner for not possessing trade and food license. It was also found to have deviated from the layout plan for constructing a wall and encroaching an adjoining piece of land.
Heart Cup Coffee is run in a residential area and United Kitchens of India was found to have an expired food and trade license. In case of the three pubs sealed, officials found the construction of the entities to be illegal. GHMC officials also raided five other stores in the area and served them notices for violating building and fire safety norms.
The crackdown earned appreciation for the officials on Twitter with people also raising other concerns regarding parking issues around the pubs. Many pointed out how lanes around the pubs gets congested due to haphazard parking causing inconvenience to the residents living around the pubs.
"We will continue inspection in other places of the city today and will soon resolve the parking issues in residential areas at the earliest," Musharraf assured netizens on Twitter.