Hotels in Karnataka to continue takeaway services for next 3 days after CM B S Yediyurappa's assurance

Hotels and restaurants have decided to continue takeaway services for three more days, following a meeting with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday. Hotels were also exempted from the total lockdown on Sundays in Karnataka - under the state guidelines issued for Lockdown 4.0.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

The Karnataka Pradesh Hotel and Restaurants' Association (KPHRA) had earlier threatened to stop takeaway services over refusal to allow dine-in facility in the fourth phase of the lockdown.

Speaking to DH, B Chandrashekar Hebbar, president of KPHRA said that the CM urged hoteliers to wait for three days, assuring that a decision will be taken. "We appraised the government over the mounting losses by keeping just take-away services open. Noting that social distancing and other guidelines will be followed, we urged him to allow dine-in facility," he said.

The Association will wait three more days before discontinuing parcel services, Hebbar said.

The government also provided relaxation to hotels from the total lockdown announced in Karnataka on Sundays, he said. A package for hotel employees such as cooks and waiters, along the lines of those announced for farmers, cab drivers and weavers, was also sought in a petition submitted to the chief minister.

According to sources in CMO, the petition will be communicated to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further directions. "State guidelines are based on the ones issued by the Centre. Relaxation for hotels has to be decided by the central government," sources said.

Distressed by the lack of relaxations for dine-in services at hotels, the Association had threatened to suspend takeaway services noting that it only added to the losses they have suffered. They had raised objections over allowing street food stalls, maintaining that hotels would follow far better social distancing norms.

It can be recalled that the government had expressed its willingness to open hotels under the Lockdown 4.0, subject to restrictions. However, the central guidelines do not allow dine-in services.