More than seventy hotels and restaurants, including some posh ones, are running their business in the Sylhet city without licence.
The district administration issued an order on October 7 in this connection asking the police for taking necessary step against the owners of the hotels and restaurants, sources in the district administration told New Age.
The district administration conducted a survey in this regard in the city several months back and identified 71 institutions, which do not have any licence or have not renewed their licences which expired long ago.
These hotels and restaurants owners were served notices asking them to take immediate initiative to get permission from the proper authorities, the sources said.
But they did not pay heed to the notices and warning of punitive measures against them for not taking approval, forcing the administration to issue the recent order, the sources said.
Liton Ahmed, one of the owners of Chiyang Mai Chinese Restaurant in the city’s Zindabazar, told New Age on Monday that they had not renewed the licence as the Chinese restaurant had remained closed for several months.
‘We have already re-applied for renewal of the licence after receiving the notice,’ he added.
Sources in the Kotwali police also admitted that some of the hotel and restaurant owners had taken initiatives to get permission from the administration concerned.
Sylhet deputy commissioner ASM Hashim, told New Age that they had asked some owners to close their hotels and restaurants although they did not want to take such a step which would close any business establishments in the city.
‘But, we have no alternative but to issue such an order if they do not take initiative to get licence for their institutions,’ he added.
