‘Why should we suffer when you failed to act?’ Restaurants and hotels rise up in anger against Uddhav’s diktat

As the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic continues to be on an upward curve across the country, the state of Maharashtra which had suffered drastically during the first wave is now facing an even bigger ominous threat. The Uddhav Thackeray administration, during a meet on Sunday, decided to implement stricter and potentially ‘business ending’ Covid-19 rules in the state. The MVA government has imposed a night curfew from 8 pm to 7 am from Monday whilst simultaneously announcing that the state will also go for a complete weekend lockdown from 8 pm on Friday to 7 am on Monday.

As per the new rules, people who work for essential services will only be allowed to travel at night. The new rule mentions that hotels and restaurants can only allow takeaways. In-hotel dining will not be permitted. The immediate response of the hospitality and dining sector has been tear-jerking and emotional, to say the least.

Anurag Katriar, President of National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) took to Twitter to share an emotional plea to the Uddhav Thackeray government, asking them to close the entire F&B sector, once and for good, after the night curfew and weekend ban came into affect.

“Dear Maharashtra Govt, Please shut down the F&B biz in the state completely! This slow death is more excruciating. First, u shut us for dinner, which contributes 75% of our revenue. Now u r shutting us down on weekends which contributes 60% of our weekly business.”

Requesting the government to allow the restaurants to operate at normal hours with proper safeguards and protocols, Anurag further pleaded his case.

“We were shut for most part of last year. We have been operating at 50% & restricted hours since then. We somehow survived so far but now we can’t. Dear Govt, we r staring death and need some urgent oxygen. Either allow us to operate normal hours with safeguards & protocols.”

Restaurateurs in Maharashtra, which was one of the last regions to allow resumption of dine-in services had barely got out of the blocks when the MVA government slapped the curfew.

“There was temporary relief with dine-in services picking up in January, but the second wave has started “pulling things back drastically,” said Anees Khan, chef & founder of Mumbai-based Staranise Cafe & Patisserie.

With cases rising alarmingly in the past one month, the state’s recovery rate has fallen below 84 per cent. Of the 478 fatalities that occurred on April 4, when India recorded one lakh cases for the first time, 222 deaths were reported from Maharashtra alone with the total death count in the state reaching 55,878.

The unilateral and unplanned curfew imposed by the Uddhav government is surely expected to sound the death knell for the industry. When the cases had been brought to control few months back, the Maharashtra government started demonstrating a lax attitude, which has caused the current perilous situation.

Surely the best CM of the country must have a contingency plan to bail out the industry or will he ditch them — just like he has done to his political allies in the past. Only time will tell.