Home ›› 29 Apr 2020 ›› World Biz
A small number of hotels and restaurants, who went into hibernation for lockdown amid Covid-19 pandemic in Dhaka city, has emerged to sell Iftar items as most of the business organisations are paralysed with workers shortage.
Amid the decision of lockdown by the government on March 24 which came into effect on March 26 and hotels and restaurant owners complied with the decision and shut their business which provoked the workers in this industry to take a short tour of their villages and get trapped there as lockdown was extended for several times.
Mir Akhtar Uddin Dulal, owner of Star Kabab and Restaurant, selling at least 40 items of iftar during normal time through eight outlets sprawling in different parts of the capital, is now forced to trim down to maximum 10 items at four outlets because of shortage of supporting staffs and chefs.
He said, “Dhanmondi, Banani, Wari and Thatari Bazar branch went to limited operation from today (Tuesday) as we are hit hard by the shortage of workers.”
“After declaring the lockdown, most of our workers went to village homes and are staying their till now. We attempted to go limited operation with some of the staffs who are staying in Dhaka and its periphery” added Dulal.
Anwar Hossen Belu, owner of Purnima Restaurant based in Gulshan-1 said, he so far managed to gather three supporting staffs out of 55 workers as many of them are now staying outside Dhaka.
“I can’t reopen my restaurant from Tuesday (yesterday) but trying to go to operation from the first week of the next month. I have been contacting my workers for last two days but in vain as many of them refused to join work as their confidence of staying well in Dhaka is badly dented by coronavirus” added Belu.
Abdul Khaleque, managing director of Fakruddin Biryani and Restaurant said, “We are not reopening our restaurants on the ground of the safety of the employees as some 200 people work in our restaurants.”
He said “we source our raw materials from the farmers of Rangpur region and we don’t know their health status whether farmers are infected with Covid-19 or not. If any farmer is infected, this virus will carry through the sourcing materials like---chicken, beef, mutton, fish and vegetables as this virus can survive in those items which will ultimately end up infecting our staffs.
Fakruddin Biryani and Restaurant, which serves the city dwellers by eight of its outlets in capital usually selling 43 iftar items during Ramadan, will remain closed up to 31st May as decided earlier.
If the situation deteriorates further, shutdown of our business will also extend further said, Khalque.
Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association (BROA) is skeptical about the timing of the business hour as Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) permits up to 4pm to sell iftar items which members of the organization said not practical for business.
BROA urged the authorities concerned to extend the time up to two hours after iftar as it needs at least 1.30 to 2 hours to clean and disinfect the business area.
Talking to The Business Post on Tuesday, Syed Mohammad Andalib, central publicity secretary of Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association, said, the timing determined by the DMP is not feasible as sale of Iftar items gather pace before 30 to 40 minutes of breaking fast.
“Before winding up our shops for the day, we need at least 1.30 to 2 hours to clean the dishes and disinfect the place” he added.
“We want a sitting arrangement for at least 5 persons in every shops who got stuck in the street during Iftar time to break fasting. We can easily manage this sitting arrangement by maintaining sufficient distance” he further said.
