ISLAMABAD: The government has been urged by the Islamabad Restaurant Association (IRA) Saturday to continue normal functioning of restaurants under the Covid-19 SOPs to save billions of rupees investment and avoid unemployment.
Islamabad Restaurant Association President Khurram Khan, while talking to journalists here said that due to the Covid-19, the restaurants and its allied industries are not only suffering from the worst financial crisis but are also fighting for their economic survival.
While talking to Business Recorder regarding the 4th wave of Covid-19 and its possible impact on businesses especially the restaurant and hotelling industry, Khurram said that restaurants in Islamabad are facing severe financial crisis since Covid-19 outbreak to Pakistan last year; however, we continue to follow government instructions in true letter and spirit.
He said that the IRA is fully committed to support the government's agenda to fighting Covid-19 and the IRA in this regard organised special vaccination camps in Islamabad to vaccinate every staff member working in restaurants.
President restaurant association claimed that 100 percent of staff in the IRA member restaurants are vaccinated and district administration checking this on a regular basis. He added that restaurants are fully complying with the NCOC directives to allow only vaccinated customers for dine-in and not allowing any customer to dine-in, who is not vaccinated or does not have vaccination proof.
He mentioned that PM Imran Khan clearly stated on many occasions that closure of industry is no solution but we always face closure whenever authorities pace up efforts to tackle Covid-19 spread. And if this trend continues to be like this then our sector will hardly recover and this will not only hamper the economic growth of the country but will also create huge unemployment and thousands of families will suffer more.
According to a conservative estimate, around eight million employees are working in restaurants and hotels in entire Pakistan. About 1,200 large and medium-sized restaurants in Islamabad are involved in the food business and there are more than 500,000 workers employed in restaurants in Islamabad only, while more than 35 allied sectors of the economy are attached to this industry.
According to statistics available with this subscribe, this is a misperception that Covid-19 cases increase with the opening of restaurants as the facts clearly shows that Covid cases were on the rise, while the restaurants were still operating for takeaways only.
Commenting on the possible restriction on dine- in, the IRA stated that authorities should allow restaurants to continue dine-in as every restaurant is allowing only people vaccinated for Covid-19, so there is no point that Covid-19 can spread from restaurants and dine-in facilities.
The restaurant industry is one of the largest industries of the country with billions of rupees of investment. However, the investors are facing huge financial losses due to Covid-19 related restrictions, Khurram added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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