Water scarcity: hotels and restaurants set to close

Water scarcity: hotels and restaurants set to close

Mangalore Today News Network

May 02, 2016: Swarna Sunder, vice-president, Dakshina Kannada Hotels and Restaurants’ Association, told media that some hotels had introduced eco-friendly bio-plates made from arecanut sheaths or arecanut leaf plates. But this did not go down well with many customers who are yet to get accept this.

The hotels were facing acute water shortage and hence, snacks, like ‘goli baje’, ‘ambade’, ‘podi’, which are served with chutney, and sweets like ‘ksheera’ were being served on paper plates. For, the hotel did not have enough water to wash steel plates.

Swarna  Sunder said river Netravathi drying up has hit hotels and lodges in Mangaluru, with the owners of middle-class hotels and restaurants worst hit.  Many of them can’t even depend on private tankers anymore as many of them are either getting too many requests or have been hired by MCC, Mangaluru City Corporation to supply water.

On the other hand, the flow of customers to hotels has also increased with the tourist season beginning. Added to this, people who are unable to cook at home due to water shortage also come to hotels.

Impact  : It is clarified hotels and lodges in Mangaluru make profits during summer and don’t do so well during monsoon. They use the profits made during summer to manage the hotel/restaurant during rainy weather.  But the water shortage has disturbed the whole pattern.  Only the hotels/restaurants having borewells, open wells or the capacity to hire a large number of tankers have not been affected. Water scarcity has hit at least  580 hotels and restaurants, excluding bars, visited mostly by the middle class. As such hotels and restaurants remain open from early morning to late evening, they require huge quantities of water.

Some of the hotels and restaurants in the city are likely to shut down this week if the water supply does not improve.  According to Swarna Sunder, vice-president of the Dakshina Kannada Hotels and Restaurants’ Association, some owners have decided to wait for three or four days before taking such a call; he added  “It is just impossible to manage,”.