JOIN USMaharashtra hoteliers protest against fresh Covid-19 curbs
With the Maharashtra government imposing a mini-lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, hotel industry bodies -- Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), Hotel & Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) and Indian Hotel & Restaurant Association (AHAR) described the decision as the “last nail in the coffin” for the hospitality sector and has pleaded for help.
“With this decision, as far as our industry is concerned, the State Government has driven in the last nail into the coffin. The industry which generates employment and is a source of income to lakhs, cannot survive this time as we cannot pay staff salaries, licence fees, meet operational expenses etc with mere home delivery and takeaways,” said Shivanand Shetty, president, AHAR.
“We fail to understand why the hotel and restaurant industry is targeted every time when there is no empirical evidence to prove that Covid-19 is emanating from our places, or it is rampantly spreading only during the evening,” he added.
“We will once again support the government like we did last year. But, there will be no hospitality industry if the government does not reciprocate. We are doomed this time around if we are expected to be both, shut for business and not receive any relief. The government has to meet us somewhere in between.
"Shut us but do justice to the owners, staff and their families. Take care of the salaries. Unburden the owners of the property tax, waive off the statutory fees, don't generate electricity and water bills until the industry becomes completely operational again,” said Pradeep Shetty, senior vice president, HRAWI and joint honorary secretary, FHRAI.
It is only after October 2020, that restaurants in Maharashtra were allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity with time restrictions. But the resurgence of the pandemic at regular intervals led to more severe restrictions disrupting all its revival efforts.
The FHRAI & HRAWI, had recently in a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, stated that the rental and salary expenses, servicing of debts taken earlier, negative cash flows and the statutory payment obligations have made hospitality the most unviable and unsustainable business under the present situation.