One restaurant closed down for violating regulations

Over the past five days, only one restaurant in the capital was found violating Ramadan regulations by openly serving food during the day, a senior official from the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) said on Saturday. The restaurant, located in east Amman’s Ashrafiyeh District was serving hummus, foul and falafel to taxi drivers, Mervet Mhairat director of GAM’s health control department, told The Jordan Times yesterday. "Our inspection team closed the restaurant and referred the owner to the Amman governor for further legal action," she said. GAM usually monitors restaurants during Ramadan to ensure that they abide by the regulations, Mhairat added, noting that the municipality dispatches its teams to the streets of the capital to control such actions, although their jurisdiction is limited to eateries termed as "public” restaurants. Keeping such facilities open during the day in Ramadan is a violation of regulations issued by authorities every year before the fasting month. Just few days before the beginning of Ramadan, Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit issued a circular which stressed the need to prevent any violations of Ramadan regulations suchas serving or eating food in public places, including restaurants. However, several restaurants remain open during the fasting month, under the umbrella of the Tourism Ministry's rules governing tourist facilities such as hotels and restaurants. According to the rules, issued by the ministry last week, five-star hotels and restaurants are allowed to serve food and alcohol, but only indoors. In addition, all nightclubs, discos must remain shut during Ramadan, with violators subject to two months of closure. Under the regulations, tourist restaurants, coffee shops, entertainment areas and fast-food restaurants are allowed to serve food indoors, with fines imposed on violators that offer meals outdoors, particularly in their yards.