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As Punjab extends night curfew timings, hospitality industry fears more losses
The traders stated that the government should focus on expediting the vaccination drive rather than extending night curfew timings.
With the state government extending the night curfew by two hours, the hospitality sector stated that they will be forced to shut down their units if there’s no support extended from the government’s side.
The curfew will now begin from 9 pm instead of 11 pm and continue till 5 am. The owners of hotels and restaurants rued that the business will be affected by over 70% owing to it and this will also result in large scale unemployment as they will not be able to pay salaries to the staff.
They stated that if the government is taking these steps to control the spread of the disease then it should also support the industry by announcing some relief and help them cover the losses.
President of Hotel and Restaurant Association Amarvir Singh said, “We will be left with no other option but to shut down our units as 65-70% business will be affected due to the decision taken by the government. People go to restaurants after closing their shops therefore, the footfall usually increases at around 9 pm.”
“The sector is already struggling at this time of crises, and this decision will lead to large-scale unemployment as the owners won’t be able to pay salaries to their employees. A meeting of the association will be held in the coming days to discuss the matter,” he added.
Bandeep Singh, owner of a food joint in Sarabha Nagar, said, “We understand that the government is taking these steps to contain the spread of the disease, but it should also think of our industry. The footfall starts increasing around 8:30 pm, but at that time we will have to shut down the units to be able to reach our houses before 9 pm.”
The owners of marriage palaces raised similar issues, and stated that they were already finding it difficult to make ends meet as people are not organising events due to the cap on gatherings, and the extension in the night curfew has further increased their trouble.
Amarjit Singh Sant, president of the Marriage Palace Welfare Association, said, “We were already receiving only 40% response due to the cap on gatherings and night curfew, and this decision will further bring down the business to 10%. Now, we will not be able to organise two events in a day as the events that were to be organised at night will now either be held during the afternoon or the customers will cancel the bookings.”
Traders rue losses
Sunil Mehra, general secretary of Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, stated that the trade has already been affected at large during the post lockdown period.
“The extension of night curfew will further inculcate fear among the customers especially, those coming from other districts. The footfall will decrease in the coming days, and traders will suffer huge losses,” he said.
The traders stated that the government should focus on expediting the vaccination drive rather than extending night curfew timings.
Amarjit Singh, president of Model Town market association, said, “The business will be affected by extension in the timings of the night curfew as people will not move out even in the evening due to fear. The government should rather take up the vaccination drive at large to control the spread of the disease.”
