GUNTUR: The hoteliers in the city are expressing concern over the mushrooming street food kiosks, which, they feel, are causing losses to the hotel industry.
“We are paying sales taxes to the government and running business, as per prescribed norms, whereas the roadside vendors are selling the food items to customers simply by parking a push cart on pavement. They neither need licences nor they pay any tax,” averred a hotelier in the city, not wishing to be named.
Stating that roadside eateries do not bother about the food safety guidelines, taxes and licenses, Guntur City Hotels’ Association president K Srinivas Rao said that hotels and restaurants adhering to those rules have to pay the price. “Today, we are worried about increased taxes and their impact on our quantum of business, while street vendors are only adding to our woes,” he lamented.
Interacting with hoteliers from different parts of the district, during the inauguration of the new office premises of Hotels and Allied Industries Welfare Association of Guntur district here Sunday, Rao blamed the roadside eateries for worsening the sanitary situation, as they do not have any mechanism for dumping the garbage. “They either dump the garbage on roadside or in drains,” he pointed out.
Urging the government to take concrete measures to save the hotel industry, he said that steps like limiting all the street food vendors to certain locations and allocating some time for them to run their business will be suitable for both the roadside vendors and hoteliers.
Claiming that such system had already been adopted in Vijayawada city, where the street food vendors are permitted to take up their business in three locations, he asked the government to take such steps in Guntur city as well.
Guntur West MLA Modugula Venugopal Reddy, who inaugurated the building and launched the website www.haiwaguntur.com, assured to take all the concerns raised by the hoteliers to the notice of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and have them resolved.