JDA holds meeting with rooftop restaurant owners; 67 served notices

Jaipur:  The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) officials held a meeting with the owners of rooftop restaurants and conveyed to them that they should be ready for strict action if they didn’t ensure compliance with building bylaws and fire safety norms.

The JDA is doing a survey of all the rooftop restaurants in the city and have served notices to 67 of them for violation of building bylaws and fire safety norms. About 40 rooftop restaurants have responded to the JDA notices. The JDA has found about 82 rooftop restaurants in the city. Only six of them apparently follow all the building bylaws.

“We had a meeting with the management of rooftop restaurants in the city to know what challenges they are facing and their views on the issue before taking any action against them. We don’t want to shut down businesses, but we want to ensure that these commercial establishments are following the safety guidelines,” said a senior JDA officer.

The JDA officials told the rooftop restaurant owners that while they have to comply with all the building bylaws, the most important rules they need to follow are

• getting a fire NOC,
• having a permanent structure,
• having enough parking space and
• clearly defining the exit and entry points.

Most owners demanded for more time to ensure compliance with the bylaws; however, they said that some of the bylaws are impractical and difficult to follow given the limited amount of resources they have at their disposal.

“The management must put the safety of their customers first. We will take action against restaurants which are ignoring our notices and fail to follow the norms,” said the officer.