The Bruhat Bengaluru Hoteliers Association (BBHA) on Friday wrote a letter to the Election Commission to reconsider the four-day ban on liquor between February 14 and February 20 on account of Teachers’ Constituency by-election. With the dry days coinciding with Valentine’s Day on February 14, hoteliers said that they will face losses as they have already made all the preparations.
A temporary ban on sale of liquor has been imposed from 5 p.m. on February 14 to midnight 12 a.m. on February 16 and from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. on February 20.
“Four days of closure will result in loss of business to the tune of over ₹450 crore. The government will also lose about ₹240 crore in excise duty. The license fee for those four days will lead to losses of about ₹12,000 per licensee. This will also cause trouble to manage other costs like rent, salaries,” said P.C. Rao, president, BBHA, in the letter.
