Union Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Monday took stock of the preparations of Ashoka Hotel and assured that all the hotels will follow the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Health.
Speaking to he said, "Delhi, Tamil Nadu were states where hotels were not open. Kerala, Maharashtra are states where the partial opening is allowed. But, if the industry has to fight the battle of survival, then the advice has been that the hotel should be opened. The owners of the hotel and stakeholders have also said this, many have said that whatever guidelines and SOPs are there, we will follow them."
On the issue of opening banquet halls, Patel said, "So far, the Government of India, the Home Ministry's SOP, has a fixed number of 50 people. We have written a letter to the Home Minister to ask for permission for banquet hall to open with 50 per cent of their capacity. The hotel owners also want to move forward with this situation towards their revival. I think the government is taking decisions very quickly, this industry also believes. I think this decision will also be taken soon," he added.
Patel assured that the Ashok Hotel will continue to provide better facilities even in these times of COVID-19 crisis and complete preparations have been made to deal with any emergency situation here.
He further said that 'Right now we are fighting for survival, fighting to live.
Those who were talking about the SOP should restore confidence and as a precaution, we should keep a vigilant system, whenever we come to face any situation, for this, Ashok has signed MoU with AIIMS and I think that is the first attempt. Ashoka also started another work that it has trained all the people from their loaders to the guards. They will also be available as master trainers.
Notably, the government is trying to bring all things on track gradually while fighting COVID and permission was given to open hotels. However, Delhi and Tamil Nadu had so far kept hotels closed. But now, after getting permission hotels to open in Delhi, the biggest challenge will be to guarantee the security to the guests coming to the hotel.
( With inputs from ANI )
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