Banquet hall groups urge Kejriwal to waive electricity, water charges

New Delhi, August 25

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Representatives of various banquets hall associations in the city have urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to “waive” electricity and water charges incurred by these facilities during the period they were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister on Monday held a meeting with these representatives and thanked them for their cooperation in combating the pandemic in the national capital.

“During the meeting with the CM, representatives of various banquet hall associations raised the problems faced by owners of such facilities and the business losses suffered by them due to the lockdown,” said Krishna Jain, who represented the East Delhi Banquet Halls Association.

About 25 to 35 people from the Delhi Banquet Association and various other banquet hall groups were present in the meeting, he said.

“We have suffered so much losses. Our facilities were shut during the lockdown and many are still not in an economic position to resume operations. So, we requested the CM to at least waive charges for electricity and water incurred during the period they were shut,” he added.

Jain, who runs a banquet hall having a seating capacity of 600 to 700 in Shalimar Bagh, said various representatives also requested Kejriwal to increase the permissible crowd limit to “50 per cent of the total capacity” of a hall.

“The CM heard our problems and said a new SOP will be issued soon in this regard,” he claimed.

Banquet halls were closed in March after the nationwide lockdown was imposed in the city, due to which the economy was severely hit the country, spanning various sectors.

The government had imposed a limit of 50 people at events held in banquet halls to ensure implementation of social distancing norms in view of the COVID-19 situation.

The members of the associations also said that various labourers had left the city due to lack of work in the hospitality industry and they could come back if opportunities arose again.

The associations thanked the Delhi government for allowing the opening of banquet halls and suggested various measures to revive the banquet hall industry.

A statement quoting the Chief Minister had said on Monday: “The banquet halls have opened in states where the COVID-19 cases are higher and remain shut in Delhi where the cases are lower. Then, they (Centre) permitted us to open the banquet halls after August 15.”

Kejriwal had said the suggestions of the banquet hall associations would be implemented and measures would be adopted to revive the industry in Delhi.

During the phase of the rise in coronavirus cases in June, the associations had cooperated by letting their establishments to be attached with the COVID-19 dedicated hospitals.

Recently, the government had issued an order to de-link all such facilities, in view of the “improved COVID-19 situation” in Delhi.

Delhi recorded 1,061 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the tally in the city to over 1.62 lakh while the death toll from the disease mounted to 4313, authorities said.

There is a total of 644 containment zones in the city, according to the Delhi health department bulletin issued on Monday. PTI