Restaurants, retail shop owners oppose restrictions on timings; claim it as an unjustified decision

Renuka Suryavanshi 

Ever since the Pune district administration announced the restrictions on movements in the district for the next seven days beginning from April 3, 2021, many restaurant owners as well as retail shops have strongly opposed this step. They stated that the entire last year went into rebuilding the business from scratch. Things were looking little positive till February end and mid March but with this drastic step everything has collapsed. If this continues it will be difficult to move on positively. 

Pune Pulse spoke to a few restaurant owners on what they feel about this decision as advised by the administration to keep restaurants shut and only continue food delivery. Though the administration has allowed home delivery of the food, experts have cited that the restaurant owners will not be able to survive only on online deliveries. 

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“As we know that hotel and food industry are one of the badly affected sectors and one more lockdown will certainly worsen the situation for the industry.

Its not only about the sustainability of the business but also about the workers and their family that gets affected due to the uncertainty hovering over this sector.Government should also take into account the effects of lockdown on the economy as a whole,” said Amit Kedari of Green Court restaurant in Wanowrie. 

Rupesh Agarwal, director, Betos restaurant on Nibm road said, “By asking to keep the shutters down there is a long chain which gets disrupted for a long time. It has become difficult to survive in such tricky conditions where every moment is uncertain. Why is government not considering our suggestions while they decide on such unjustified decisions. Why aren’t manufacturing industries getting any dictact ? We have been following all rules which are in force such as restrictions on patrons, social distancing and other Covid19 appropriate protocol. We have decided to approach the concerned officials in the district administration and urge them to rethink on their decision. ” 

Imran Rajan, owner of Cream Craver, a fast food restaurant in Pune said, “More than the restaurants suffering heavy losses the industry is facing shortage of manpower after lockdown is lifted. People no longer feel safe and secured. In the last one year of lockdown we spent all our savings on recovering from the losses but now there is nothing anyone can do even to survive.” 

Speaking to Pune Pulse, Fatehchand Ranka of Pune Retailers Association said “Earlier the rule was issued to keep the shop shut by 8 pm. The new rule states us to close by 6 pm. How are we suppose to work and make earnings ? Eighty percent of the working staff at many shops in Pune has women staff. How will they reach home when administration has kept the public transport shut ? Why are manufacturing units allowed to work. We have been following the rules to the perfection but certainly such vague restrictions are making us worried. Several families have been in financial and emotional trouble due to Covid19 but these rules are making us collapse completely ? We have decided to approach the district administration and rethink on their decision.” 

Pooja Sikcchi-Wasekar, Owner, TreasureBox – A Baby retail outlet in Fatima nagar said, “Lockdown which is a necessity from health perspective on one side has been a huge loss for a small retailer like me. With the fixed maintainance cost and expenses of my store every month and zero cash in-flow, the time has been very hard to pass in 2020. There was a hope that situation may come to normal in 2021, but it’s worsening day by day leaving a big question mark for everyone of us on how to survive further?”

Anil Kate, owner of Karolbaugh restaurants in Pune said, “With the news of Pune going through lockdown most of the staff from various restaurants are already moving back to their hometown. How will we survive ? If this continues even after next week several restaurants will close down permanently. Government should think of other stringent steps and not target only our industry.” 

Praful Chandawarkar, who runs Malaka Spice restaurant in Pune in his statement said, “Why has been the restaurant industry on the target when other shops were still running with no social distancing, people not adhering to the Covid19 appropriate protocol ? In the last five months, almost everyone in the industry were only repaying our debts, loans, paying their vendors and this lockdown came into force. The entire month of March was terrible for us. The new month started with such a negative note. The hoteliers association have already recorded their protest and we are hoping that government considers are requests.”