Karnataka COVID blast: Demand for withdrawal of weekend curfew grows louder

Blow after blow to their business and earnings, various associations like hotels, pubs and bars, film, taxi and taxi drivers' and others have expressed dissatisfaction over the Karnataka government's new guidelines of weekend curfew.

Ola and Taxi Drivers' association president Tanveer Ahmed said that the government is playing with the life of the hand to mouth section of the society and questioned the rationale behind the government's weekend curfew while comparing the situation with western countries which have witnessed a triple fold spike on Omicron cases.

With hotel business suffering the most, the association not just condemned the decision but also called it as very unscientific. PC Rao, president of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Hotel Owner's Association said that hotels make business usually during weekends and the government announcing weekend curfew will further dent their business. He said that Omicron is not as lethal as it was earlier and even many western countries have witnessed a spike but have not shut their business.

Liquor association also feels that the night curfew is a very harsh decision and has appealed to the government to withdraw the weekend curfew. 'Our business picks up only on Saturday and Sundays and with a curfew, the shops selling liquor will be hit hard,' opined Karunakar Hegde, vice-president of the Federation of Wine Merchants’ Associations of Karnataka.

This apart, another industry that is worried is the Kannada film industry as producers who released their films are left in deep inconvenience. NM Suresh, secretary, Karnataka Film Chamber said despite the precarious situation, the industry has no other choice but to diligently follow the guidelines.