Hoteliers rue fresh restrictions

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 22

In the wake of the fresh spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, the state government has taken some drastic steps to restrict the number of guests at parties, mall, multiplexes and other gatherings.

On the other hand, proprietors of hotels, restaurants and resorts rue the imposition of the restrictions again.

Surinder Singh, a hotelier, said barring those hotels which were situated close to the Golden Temple all others were struggling to gain even 25 per cent occupancy.

He said the government’s order of restricting the number of tourists and attendees at a party had led to a fall in the number of customers visiting the holy city.

Surinder Singh said nearly 3 lakh people were directly and indirectly employed in the sector. He said the industry had started re-employing sacked staff. As 80 per cent of the staff was either laid off or sacked in the state last year, he asserted. “The process of recruiting them had just started taken off that the brakes were once again applied.”

Vishal Sareen, managing director of Festyn Era and Festyn Royale Resorts, said restricting the number of guests to 20 in the wedding ceremonies had made their profession economically unviable. He said non-occurrence of any mass Covid-19 cases among the participants of any party point towards enough precautions taken inside the premises. “Availability of enough open space in resorts and implementation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) ensured the safety of participants in the parties organised there.” Besides, hotels and resorts were opened with restrictions only in June last year.

An executive at a mall said restriction of not more than 100 persons would be allowed in the malls, cinema halls, theatres, multiplexes and others at anytime had once again put them in economic mess.

Navdeep Singh Grover of Astoria Food Pavilion said night curfew starting from 9 pm had moved away customers of dinners.