HRAWI Demands Waiver Of All Statutory Fees & Taxes; Appeals To The Govt. For Remuneration Of Employees, Owners & Families
HRAWAI: The Maharashtra government’s latest regulations have spelled certain doom for the state’s hospitality industry. After suffering unimaginable damage as a result of last year’s over-eight-month lockdown, the hospitality industry faces another year of similar or even worse consequences.
About 20% of hospitality establishments have yet to reopen entirely since the lockdown was lifted, and 30% of hotels and restaurants in the country have permanently closed due to financial losses. The remainder continued to lose money, and sales are now less than half of what they were before COVID19.
The State Government’s recent ‘Break The Chain’ rules would cause nearly 90% of restaurants to close fully.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has appealed to the government to compensate workers in the industry and their families for lost profits, as well as to help hoteliers and restaurateurs by waiving all statutory fees, taxes, and utility bills in light of the new guidelines and losses suffered by the industry in the aftermath of the previous lockdown.
“Even after one year, the Hospitality industry has not received any relief from the Government. Of the approximately 30 lakh employees engaged in the industry directly in the State, 40 per cent have faced job loss and the figures are only increasing. Many employees, who have just returned from their homes, will have to be compensated to ensure that their families are not made to suffer all over again. There is no way that the industry can survive another lockdown,”
says Mr. Sherry Bhatia, President, HRAWI.
According to the HRAWI, Maharashtra’s new “Break The Chain” order is the equivalent of another full lockdown. There are approximately 10,500 hotels and 210,000 restaurants in Maharashtra. The hospitality industry, especially small and medium hotels and restaurants is in dire financial straits. The HRAWI has warned that the industry is on the verge of collapse unless the government intervenes and supports it.
“With the latest conditions laid down by the Government, restaurants will choose to not open at all for the month. With the WFH culture, earnings in the day are next to negligible and food delivery contributes only around 5 to 7 per cent of the total revenue. Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of a restaurant’s weekly turnover is generated through weekend business and approximately 80 per cent of revenue is generated in the evenings from dine-in customers. Restaurants are popular for dine-in services, for the ambience they offer and food delivery is only a supplementary service. To keep an establishment open just for deliveries is not at all viable. Under such a scenario, shutting down the business entirely is the only choice,”
“Hotels and restaurants have been following all the guidelines, SOPs and social distancing norms advised by the Government. Despite the industry being most disciplined and conscious of safety, it is the first to be victimized whenever a restrictive action is announced. The Hospitality industry will once again support the Government like it did last year. But, there will be no Hospitality industry to support if it does not offer us relief. Our businesses are under immense financial stress and what worries us more is that we can do nothing about it but follow orders issued by the Government. Since the industry is financially drained, we expect that the Government should do justice to the owners by waiving off electricity and water bills, excise license fee and other statutory fees; and also take care of the staff salaries until the industry becomes completely operational again.”
says Mr. Pradeep Shetty, Senior Vice President, HRAWI.
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