Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (MS)

Udupi, Dec 26: Govindraj Hegde, chief secretary of Federation of Wine Merchants’ Associations on Sunday December 26 expressed disappointment over the Karnataka government’s decision to restrict people in bars and pubs during New Year celebrations.

In his statement to the media, Hegde said, "The government has ordered bars, pubs and restaurants to close at 10 pm. In addition, only 50% seating capacity is allowed. We have already highlighted our difficulties faced in the last two years after the onset of Covid. In addition, we have verbally approached you (government) and brought to your notice our hardships.

"There are more than 5,000 bars and restaurants in the state. During the lockdown we suffered huge losses. You only calculate the income of the government. No one is giving attention to the loss suffered by us. Give us an opportunity to recover our losses. Give us permission to keep the bars and restaurants open full time on December 31 and January 1. This order is gross injustice to us," he said.

Urging the government not to restrict businesses during New Year, he said, "You restrict the celebrations that take place on public roads. We do not object to it. If you give us the opportunity to do business full time on these two days, it helps us a lot to recover from our financial hardship. I request the chief minister and minister for excise to give attention to our difficulties. Please give attention to the plight of our employees. Please make necessary changes in the order that is taken out. We are not asking for opportunities to do business because of greediness. Just provide us an opportunity to balance our losses. The government just monitors the revenue we generate but does not pay heed to our difficulties."