Aurangabad, June 26:
The hotel and restaurant owners and their dependents expressed fears saying that it would be unable to survive if the total lockdown is imposed in the city on weekends (on Saturdays and Sundays) due to the threat of a third wave. It is being said that in the wake of the Delta Plus variant of Coronavirus, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will be holding a meeting to review the situation in the district (including the city) and may impose restrictions from the next week!
If there is total lockdown then the citizens then the food-lovers may not be able to enjoy eating tasty and mouth-watering delicacies in the hotels or restaurants on weekends. They will be forced to enjoy weekends in their homes.
Earlier, the state government has declared a five-level action plan to control the pandemic in the state. Accordingly, the DDMA chairman and the collector will review and announce the further restrictions on Monday.
It is hinted that the essential and non-essential category business including hotels and restaurants will be allowed to remain open till 4 pm (with 50 percent capacity) and after that, they would be permitted for parcel service. In the last two waves, the hotel and restaurant-owners operated their business by facing severe hardship. Now, if the lockdown is imposed again then it would be tough for them to maintain the staff as well. They also feared that the staff may return to their natives in rural parts of the district.
The president of Aurangabad District Hotel and Restaurant-Owners Association Shivaji Patil said," Owing to the lockdown, 20 percent hotel-owners shut their businesses in the past one year. There are 500 hotels and 20,000 personnel are dependent upon them. The district administration should at least allow running the business till 10 pm as our 90 percent business is recorded in the evening hours only. The hotel industry will survive only if the decision is taken in its favour. It takes at least two to three months to restore normalcy in business."