BENGALURU: From Thursday, all commercial establishments including hotels and restaurants which were operating from bus stands across the state will shut down. There are around 12,000 such commercial establishments operating in all bus stands and bus stops across the state on premises belonging to BMTC and KSRTC. They have decided to close down citing financial losses.
Raghavendra K, treasurer of Karnataka Hotels and Restaurants Association, told The New Indian Express that a meeting was held with the state government and members of the transport sector, but it did not yield any fruitful result. “So we have decided to close down our units as we are suffering losses. No buses are plying, customers’ numbers have also dipped drastically and it has become tough to make ends meet,” he said.
During the two-month lockdown period, the government agencies had exempted rent collection. But now they are demanding rent. “When we said it was not possible and we want to close down, the government agencies asked us to at least pay 20% rent, but we can’t as we do not have even 10% business. With shortage of staff and customers, many hotels and restaurants are suffering losses. So we have told government agencies to take back the possession of the properties and refund the deposit so that we can move on,” said Chandrashekhar Hebbar, Association president.
Property owners submitted a memorandum to BMTC and KSRTC offices on Tuesday stating that they will not open from Thursday till the government takes a decision and bails them out. They told the government that they could start afresh somewhere else if they got back the deposit amount.
KSRTC Managing Director Shivayogi C Kalasad said that the KSRTC and BMTC received a representation from them to close down. He said, “We are open to negotiations on the rent, but we also have to work out the finances for us. We understand the problems they are facing and are open to discussions. All the details and the problems will be discussed at the board meeting before any decisions are made. However, to close down operations is up to the associations.”