The Karnataka Pradesh Hotels and Restaurants Association (KPHRA) has threatened to shut down takeaway services in hotels if the state government does not give permission to open dining facilities.
The association, which claims to have 40,000 hotels under its purview, said that it has requested the state government to allow them to resume dining facilities and assured they would maintain physical distancing norms.
PC Rao, President of the Bangalore Hotel Association, another association of hotels which fall in Bengaluru's limits, said that he will meet Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday and make a fresh request to allow dining facilities to resume in hotels.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said that they have given permission to run buses where people will spend more time in proximity to others, but not to hotels where people can quickly eat and leave.
He also said that parcel services contribute to a fraction of the hotel's revenue. Many staff members working in hotels, mostly from outside Karnataka, have also left the state since interstate travel was allowed earlier this month.
KPHRA President Chandrashekar Hebbar told Deccan Herald that hotels ran their kitchens for the past two months with much lesser income and paid full salaries to the staff. He said that the association hoped that dining services would resume since other facilities which receive high footfall are set to begin in Lockdown 4.0.
Malls, pubs and theatres have remained shut in Bengaluru since mid-March while hotels were shut towards the end of March due to the lockdown imposed over the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Hotels are now only allowed to run parcel and takeaway services.