Maharashtra: Traders and restaurateurs up in arms, seek compensation or permission to operate on weekdays

The mini lockdown has left shop and restaurant owners in the lurch Leaders of these industries which suffered huge losses following the total shutdown in 2020 were hoping to get back on their feet this year But the new surge in cases has thrown them off the track They want the state government to either give compensation or allow them to operate on weekdaysOnly 30 per cent of the 20000 odd restaurants in the city had reopened since October last year although the new government order has allowed them to stay operational for takeaway and deliveries during the lsquoBreak the Chainrsquo lockdown The fresh restriction has dealt a crushing blow to the owners of 4 lakhodd shops selling clothes jewellery shoes etc in the city They fear losing business again to online platforms which will leave them in a serious crisis especially without any subsidiesViren Shah of Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association FRTWA said ldquoWe understand that to break the chain of virus spread strict preventive measures were required But we should also be allowed to open shops so that we can pay salaries rent and taxes We want the government to look into our request on sympathy grounds and allow nonessential shops to remain open from Monday to Friday as wellrdquoOnline deliveries via WhatsAppThe association in its meeting has decided that every shop should start home delivery of nonessential products in their localities through WhatsApp and social media and ensure that their business is not snatched away by any online playersMeanwhile AHAR Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association has objected to the decision of allowing food vendors for takeaway and deliveries AHAR VicePresident Niranjan Shetty said ldquoIt is a black day for us We were just hoping to get back on our feet and now this has hit us again On top of this the government is allowing food vendors for takeaway How are illegal street vendors allowed especially when there are instructions from the Supreme Court on no cooking on streetrdquolsquoA slow deathrsquoAnurag Katriar president of the NRAI National Restaurant Association of India has demanded permission to stay open on weekdays if not then the state government will assist them financially ldquoTo operate only with deliveries that too only till 8 pm makes no commercial sense at all It is like an excruciating and painful slow death for an erstwhile vibrant industryrdquo he saidldquoWe donrsquot want employees to suffer but unfortunately we donrsquot have adequate resources to support them for long We are one of those sectors that work in a safe closed environment with all the safety protocols in place but were being asked to shut down while some other activities like film shoots construction activities public transport etc continue to functionrdquo Katriar saidTraders across Maharashtra have opposed the governmentrsquos decision of closing shopsrestaurants without offering any kind of subsidy Every area representative will be using banners to display their displeasure