Hotel workers face an uncertain future

* 3000 hotels hope for revival

* 15K workers face heat, hunger

NASHIK :

Although the statewide Mission Begin Again campaign has begun, hotels, restaurants, lodges and bars are still closed, leading to starvation situation for its thousands of dependent work force including waiters, operators, artisans and owners.

About 15,000 workers work in 3,000 small and medium hotels in the district. Only parcel service is available from hotels and on the other hand customers have turned their back on the panic amid present situation.

The hotel owners and operators’ association in a written demand to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has demanded that hotels and restaurants should be reopened in Maharashtra as in other states with adherence to all the rules.

The hotel business has come to a standstill in the state since March 22. Therefore, the question of how to make their both ends meet is severely being faced by not only the dependent workforce including cooks and waiters but also by the operators and owners.

Likewise any other individual, they have been facing basic problems of hotel rent, payment of installment, loan repayment, vehicle loans, groceries, house rent etc. Therefore, the owners and workers are expecting the government to take a positive role in this regard.

The hotel business depends on the livelihood of many other factors including cooks, waiters and laundrymen. Each hotel owner and their workers have a family of four to five persons.

It also raises the issue of house rent, hotel rent, children’s education and hospitals. In such a situation, they are demanding positive decisions, revival plans for hotel industry on the part of government.