COVID-19 crisis | HRAI urges Maharashtra govt, BMC to allow Mumbai restaurants to re-open as per guidelines

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Apex industry body Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) on Saturday urged the Maharashtra government to allow restaurants in the city to operate as per permissible guidelines.

"The Maharashtra government has done a great job in restricting the spread and taking care of its citizens in the second wave of the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic. We also understand that the government and the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) want to be careful and take precautions to mitigate the crisis. We understand this can put a lot of pressure on the authorities and even an innocent slip-up can lead to backlash from all quarters," FHRAI vice president Gurbaxish Singh Kohli said in a statement.

However, he stated that this overly cautious approach is resulting in extremely serious damage to businesses, especially to restaurants in Mumbai. "In cities falling under Level 2 including Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune, restaurants and bars are operating till 11 pm even on weekends but only Mumbai remains an exception. Now Mumbai is in level 1 and it is extremely unfair to restaurants in the city to be not allowed to operate as per the permitted relaxations. The cure is turning out to be worse than the disease, Kohli lamented.

Over the last 15 months, India's hospitality Industry is burdened with negative cash flows, huge capital expenditure and is under massive debt, the industry body said. "Since March 2020, restaurants in Mumbai have remained closed and were allowed to reopen briefly for 4-5 months with several restrictions. Additionally, no relief has been granted to the industry with regards to the payment of statutory charges and fees.

"All these combined have led to financial losses resulting in closure of almost 40 per cent of restaurants and hotels in the state so far," Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) senior vice president and FHRAI joint honorary secretary Pradeep Shetty added.