New Delhi: National Restaurant Association of India on Monday said the new DDMA guidelines that prohibit dining in restaurants in the National Capital while allowing only deliveries are completely unsustainable and asked the state government to compensate for the loss of business.
Stating that with the latest order by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), it is unlikely that restaurants can sustain any longer, the restaurant's body said it is very worried about the fate of over 3 lakh people employed in Delhi restaurants.
In a statement, NRAI President Kabir Suri said right from the onset of COVID-19, the restaurant sector has been one of the worst-hit. It was the first one to be shut and almost the last one to restart during the first and second lockdowns. The restaurants have been operating at 50 per cent and restricted hours since then.
"...I reckon that this third wave is going to be even worse than last year. We somehow survived so far, but with the new guidelines announced today in Delhi it seems highly unlikely that we can sustain any longer," he said. The DDMA on Monday suspended dine-in facilities at restaurants and closed bars in view of the rising COVID cases in the city, but decided against imposing a full lockdown yet.
Reacting to it, Suri said, "These new guidelines, which prohibits dining completely and allows only deliveries, is completely unsustainable. It is like an excruciating and painful slow death for an erstwhile vibrant industry".
Pleading that the sector "need some urgent oxygen for our survival", he said, "I urge the Delhi government to either allow us to operate normal hours with safeguards and protocols or compensate us, our employees, suppliers and landlords suitably for the loss of business arising out of the lockdown". Further, Suri said, "We had just about started seeing some respectable surge in consumption, which prompted us to hire back our people and now we are left in a lurch...We are also very worried about the fate of 3,01,715 people employed in Delhi Restaurants. We don't want them to suffer but unfortunately, we don't have adequate resources to support them
for long".