Hotels in TN to down shutters on Tuesday in protest against levy of GST

All the hotels and restaurants in Tamil Nadu to down the shutters on May 30 following a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the various hotels associations in protest against levy of GST ranging from 12 per cent to 28 per cent.
 
Armed with the support of South India Hotels and Restaurant Association (SIHRA), the hotels will remain closed from 6 am to 6 pm on Tuesday.
 
SIHRA, in a statement, said hospitality and hotel industry is reeling under since 2009 due to economic and other conditions.
 
“Recently, the Supreme Court came with a judgement preventing any liquour sales within 500 metres of the National and State highways, crippling the business of hotels which are located on the arterial roads,” SIHRA added.
   
Already Hotel Associations of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Pondicherry have extended their support for the bandh'', the association said.
 
Claiming that the policy makers have failed to recognize the hospitality industry as one of the largest employment generators and net foreign exchange earners with an expected exponential growth fuelled by the growth of the middle class, SIHRA said "it is imperative that we impress the Government of our displeasure on these recent developments that are adversely affecting our industry".
 
Despite numerous representations, memorandums to the authorities, the Union Government has proposed a levy ranging from five to 18 per cent on different categories of restaurants and a steep levy of 28 per cent GST on hotels with room tariff above Rs 5,000.
   
To protest against this, the hotels an restaurants association have called for a bandh on Tuesday.