The order issued by the Delhi government on Monday prohibiting dining at restaurants and allowing only deliveries is unsustainable and will lead to a slow death of an erstwhile vibrant industry, said the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). It urged the government to provide the industry with some “oxygen” to survive the closure.
All restaurants and bars in the city, which had so far been running at 50% capacity and with restricted operating hours, were ordered to be closed in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases.
Kabir Suri, president of NRAI, said the guidelines came at a time when restaurants had just about started seeing a respectable surge in consumption, which promp-ted the industry to hire back staff who had lost jobs.
“We are 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. Over 25% of restaurants were shut last year and more than 24 lakh people lost their jobs nationally. These new guidelines are going to be even further detrimental to the industry,” Mr. Suri said.
He said it is disheartening to see that the restaurant industry, which operates in a safe and closed environment, is being asked to shut while some other activities like airlines, transport and markets continue to function.
“We need some urgent oxygen for our survival. I urge the Delhi government to either allow us to operate in normal hours with safeguards and protocols, or compensate us, our employees, suppliers and landlords suitably for the loss of business resulting from the lockdown,” Mr. Suri said.
