KOCHI: Janakeeya Hotels, the much-touted budget hotel chain launched by the LDF government to feed the poor and sick during the pandemic, are on the verge of closure owing to financial crisis. The state has not paid the promised subsidy which was supposed to cover the rent and power bills of Janakeeya Hotels, leaving many women entrepreneurs in the lurch. Around 986 and 191 Janakeeya Hotels function in the rural and urban areas in the state, respectively.
The state government decided to launch Janakeeya Hotels following the overwhelming response its community kitchens received during the initial days of the pandemic. Since its inception in April 2020, the number of outlets increased exponentially. Functioning under local self-governments across the state, the hotels offered meals at Rs 20. But delay in releasing subsidies has put many stakeholders in a tough spot.
As many as 4,890 women entrepreneurs, who are part of the initiative, find it tough to make both ends meet now. According to statistics, Janakeeya hotels feed around 2 lakh people daily across the state. With added demand and no financial backup, the women running these establishments are confused about how to go forward.
“We are in deep financial crisis. If this situation persists, we have no other option but to shut the hotel. We started this Janakeeya hotel in March 2021. Three families depend on this business and we have invested everything we have in this. I even sold my property, while others took gold loans and borrowed money to cover the operational cost. But we cannot keep doing this without the promised support from the government. We serve around 500 budget meals every day. There are Janakeeya Hotels that provide 1,500 to 1,600 meals every day,” says R Reshmi, who runs a Janakeeya Hotel at Kazhakoottam.
According to her, the demand for budget meals has increased since the third wave started. “We are getting lots of calls daily. Volunteers are picking up and delivering meal packets to the sick and we often get bulk orders from construction sites,” says Reshmi. With no solution in sight, the women entrepreneurs are planning to take up the issue with the chief minister.
“We have given a complaint to the authorities requesting them to release the pending dues. The government owes us Rs 8.33 lakh. We are waiting for the chief minister to come back from the US after his treatment to take up the issue with him directly. We had to let staff members go because we couldn’t afford to pay them,” says Reshmi.
The state government had announced a subsidy of Rs 10 for each meal sold at the Janakeeya Hotel. This amount has not been paid for the last eight months. It is learnt the local self-government department had requested for fund from the finance department to clear the pending dues, but it is yet to be released. “The state government has sanctioned Rs 30 crore for clearing the dues. The official order is yet to be released. We will start distributing the fund once the paper work is over,” said a Kudumbashree Mission executive.
“It has been a year since we launched this Janakeeya Hotel and we got the subsidy from the government during the first three months. The five women running our business used to get Rs 25,000 each as salary but now the revenue has come down and we make only Rs 10,000 per head. We hope the government will clear all the dues very soon. This hotel is a noble venture and we need to stay employed during these hard times,” says Sathi Velayudhan, who runs a Janakeeya Hotel at Athani near Nedumbassery, Kochi.
Kudumbashree grades hotels
To ensure food quality, the Kudumbashree Mission has introduced grading for Janakeeya hotels. When it was launched, the hotels used to sell 32,000 meals every day and the number has only gone up since.
“We have completed grading of Janakeeya Hotels and the performance improvement programme is under way. We have completed assessing around 70% of the units. There are three categories to the grading and training will be given to hotels scoring a low grade. Our aim is to have every unit at A grade,” said an official of Kudumbashree Mission. The hotels will also have help in designing better menus.