While government officials and district administration are on high spirits after the success of Krishna Pushkaralu, the business community in the city is in gloom owing to paltry transactions.
Contrary to high expectations of making a quick buck during the 12-day festival, a majority of businesses, including hoteliers, did little business; some even incurred losses.
Proper mobilization of pilgrims between ghats, Pushkar Nagars, transport terminals in the city and far-off locations with free RTC bus services is seen as the reason behind poor business for shops.
Movement of pilgrims within the city was restricted because of the arrangements.
Hotels aggregator OYO Rooms invested as much as Rs.50 lakh to cater to the accommodation needs of pilgrims visiting the city and surrounding ghats and announced the same beforehand.
It also spread special teams in approachable zones like railway and bus stations to ensure last-minute travellers got accommodation.
But it had to drop its plans midway to reduce the loss. “We booked all the rooms in six hotels in city before the festival started expecting high occupancy. But as there were no takers we managed to cancel half of the rooms,” OYO Rooms, Cluster Manager in city K. Rahul Reddy told The Hindu .
“Free accommodation and food at Pushkarnagars took care of the needs of pilgrims. The traffic restrictions, lack of parking in hotels and other constraints forced many to go back to ghats in Telangana,” he added.
Many hotels in the city converted their banquet halls into rooms and air-conditioned dormitories, but they could not fill up even 50 per cent of their actual rooms. Only advanced bookings turned fruitful for the hoteliers. Eateries too faced the same situation and there was less than regular rush.
Liquor sales did not
pick up
Liquor sales were only normal despite huge turnout of people. Hot weather during the festival was one major reason for poor sales. “As some shops near the ghats were shut, sales in other shops in the area increased. But there was no overall increase as there was no movement of pilgrims in city other than between ghats and transport terminals,” District Excise Deputy Commissioner B. Arun Rao said.
