With swine flu casualties on the rise, 40 per cent of hotel staff who had gone to their hometowns haven't reported to work in over two months

With the swine flu scare being a persistent problem in the city, several industries have been affected for almost three months now.

Hoping that the situation would come under control in a couple of days, most hotels had sanctioned leave to their employees.

Never came back
However, since the number of H1N1 casualties has been on the rise, 40 per cent of the city's hotel staff, who hail from Bengal and Nepal, have not reported to work.




Big loss
"Also, because of the pandemic, most companies have cancelled or postponed events that they usually organise in our hotels. This has been very bad for our business," said Kamal Sahani, a member of
the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India.

The president of Pune Restaurant and Hoteliers Association, Kanakdas Shetty said losses to the industry are around 60 per cent. Added Rupesh Shetty, office bearer of the association, "The situation will become normal only after two months."

Amol Pokle, a hotel worker at Deccan Gymkhana, admitted that workers were scared after a staff member died of swine flu recently.