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MCGM eliminates hospitality licenses’ duplicity, limiting them to three
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Saturday, 22 July, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has streamlined the licensing process for hospitality industry. A circular issued by the civic body has, with immediate effect, eliminated the multiplicity and duplicity of many licences and whittling them down from 19 to just three.
The move also entails the issuance of a composite licence for the hospitality industry within a stipulated time frame, saving businesses both time and money.
Going forward, hospitality establishments will be able to obtain licenses for commencing and operating business by submitting a single application form through a single-window system.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has welcomed the decision.
“This decision is music to all HRAWI members’ ears, and we, at HRAWI welcome it wholeheartedly,” said Dilip Datwani, president, HRAWI.
“After years of HRAWI’s persistently deliberating and following up with the
various departments and stakeholders on the single-window clearance system for licenses for the hospitality industry, the model will now be realised to a major extent,” he added.
“The absence of this system was a big hindrance to both commencing and operating a business, but with it being streamlined, we at HRAWI will now have resolved a majority of the concerns pertaining to ease of doing business,” Datwani said.
“We are thankful to the MCGM and the government of Maharashtra for having viewed our request with a positive approach,” he added.
“I wish to stress here on HRAWI’s efforts in spearheading this initiative and diligently following it up with the authorities for over twenty years, which have finally borne fruit,” Datwani said.
“Of course, if it weren’t for the like-minded officers in the authority who took action on this, the single-window system may not have seen the light of day. We are as much appreciative of their co-operation and support,” he added.
Of the several points listed out in the circular, weightage has been placed on ensuring that the licencing process be simple, unambiguous and devoid of duplicity in submission of applications.
With the streamlining, businesses will now be able to register online for shops and establishments (S&E) through the MCGM web portal, and their licenses can be renewed through its mobile app.
“I had once read Benjamin Franklin’s quote, ‘If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.’ Since the last two decades I have been persuading various authorities, here and at the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), to put the single-window clearance system in place,” said Kamlesh Barot, past president, HRAWI.
“HRAWI has been fortunate lately, to find and thank the like-minded commissioners and secretaries at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mantralaya, who have made this single window system a reality today,” he added.
“The new system will reduce the licensing process to a fraction of what it has been, with a combined business application form, through the designated window,” stated Barot.
The MCGM, while making the process online, will continue to run the physical format of application for licenses for the purpose of on-the-spot clarification to stakeholders.
“The nineteen licenses were clearly understood and recognised as either repetitions or as being outdated. Repetitive licenses have now been neatly merged together under a single classification, and the outdated ones have been removed to bring the number of licenses down to just three,” said Datwani.
“There are a few more recommendations for merging other licenses and finer details need to be ironed out. But on the whole, this move is a big relief to every hotelier and restaurateur,” he added.
“We are as much grateful to the civic body as we are to our members for their patient and relentless efforts in having paved the way for arriving at this day,” said Datwani.
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