Owners of Delhi restaurants unhappy over suspension of dine-in facilities, seek review of decision

Owners of restaurants and bars in Delhi on Tuesday expressed dismay over the DDMAs decision to suspend dinein facilities in the city and said many businesses may have to shut shop as takeaway services alone cannot cover expenses like rent and staff salariesThey said it is an injustice that restaurants and bars in the city are being closed when roadside eateries are open and Metro trains and buses are running at full capacityThey also urged the Delhi Disaster Management Authority to review its decisionManpreet Singh treasurer of the National Restaurants Association of India NRAI said restaurants and bars have not yet fully recovered from the setbacks of the previous lockdowns and these fresh restrictions will only worsen thingsNearly 30 per cent of restaurants and bars were shut for good during the previous lockdowns and these restrictions will further push the business down It will lead to the closure of more such establishments Let alone covering losses takeaway services at restaurants cannot even cover the daily expenses Singh saidNo restaurant or bar owner can afford to pay lakhs of rupees in rent taxes and salaries of employees unless his or her business is running at full capacity he saidIt latest restrictions will make a big dent in the business of restaurants and bars The authorities should reconsider this decision Political parties are holding poll campaigns highway dhabas are open roadside eateries are also functioning but only restaurants and bars where all Covid protocols are followed are facing the axe he lamentedSingh also alleged that the Delhi government is not issuing passes to employees of restaurants engaged in home delivery servicesThe DDMA on Monday ordered the closure of restaurants and bars in the city allowing only delivery and takeaway servicesThe restrictions came in the wake of the steep rise in cases of COVID19 and its Omicron variant across the cityTill Monday restaurants were allowed to operate the dinein facility at 50 per cent of their seating capacity from 8 am to 10 pm Bars in the city were also permitted to open with 50 per cent seating capacity from 12 noon to 10 pmRaman Bajaj who runs a restaurant and bar in south Delhi appealed to the DDMA to reconsider the decision and said it will ruin the industry and result in unemploymentMost of the restaurants and bars in Delhi follow Covid guidelines as they take care of social distancing norms check guests temperature and sanitise utensils but still they are being shut he saidMany restaurants dont have the takeaway facility Such establishments will be closed Those providing home delivery facilities will have to cut their staff to manage expenses Such decisions will leave many people unemployed and ruin the business he addedPresident of New Delhi Traders Association Atul Bhargava said the authorities did not consult traders before taking such a decisionWe have taken a bad hit All our savings have gone into running the show We have been paying taxes rents salaries of our employees on time but still our establishments are being shut he saidBhargava claimed the government and authorities have failed to control crowds and restaurants and other businesses have to bear the bruntWe want to survive and also support the government but there has to be a practical solution On the one hand you are saying hospital bed occupancy is low and on the other you are shutting restaurants This is injustice he saidDelhi on Monday logged 17 more deaths due to COVID19 and 19166 infections with a positivity rate of 25 per cent the highest since May 4 last year according to official dataTo curb the spread of the viral disease many restrictions including oddeven arrangements for markets night curfew and weekend curfew have been imposed in the cityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever