Stakeholders in the hospitality, tourism and industrial sector in Mysuru have urged the Karnataka Government to help revive the economy ahead of a meeting on January 21 to take a call on weekend curfew.
The weekend curfew is in place for the last two weeks to curb the surge in new cases of COVID-19.
However, business and trade organisations have argued that despite the outbreak, the severity of the infection is less due to high rate of vaccination and, hence, does not warrant a lockdown.
The Federation of Organisations and Associations of Mysore (FOAM) said despite the rapid surge of Covid-19 cases in the third wave, not manypatients have opted for hospitalisation and the infection, according to the FOAM, is ‘’mild in nature’’. The FOAM favours lifting weekend curfew while ensuring adherence to Covid-19 Appropriate Behaviour.
The FOAM comprises representatives from the hospitality, tourism, travel, trade and hotel sectors in Mysuru. It has argued that even medical experts have opined that COVID-19 cannot be eradicated. That being the case, steps should be taken to ensure that daily activities are not affected.
B.S. Prashanth of FOAM said the vaccination rate in Mysuru is nearing cent percent. All staff, employees and owners of business and trade establishments were fully vaccinated, and they are also getting themselves tested periodically.
‘’Mysuru is a tourist destination. Weekends are important from the business and economy point of view. Hence, the Karnataka Government should lift the weekend curfew and pave the way for revival of economic activities,” said Mr. Prashanth.
The Karnataka Tourism Society, an organisation representing the travel and tourism sectors, said the night curfew should be revised to be in place from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and the weekend curfew should be lifted.K. Syama Raju, president of the society, said the most effective instrument of containment is vaccination and observing Covid-19 protocols.
The society said there was a need to limit the disruption in economic activity and pointed out that Karnataka was the first State to include tourism sector under priority list for vaccination, and multiple camps and drives have been held to cover the workforce.
The Hotel Owners’ Association also petitioned to the government saying economic disruption is unwarranted given the high coverage of vaccination and added that 80% of the revenue of Karnataka came from trade and businesses. Persisting with weekend curfew will affect revenue inflow of the Karnataka Government and its capacity to implement welfare programmes.
Similar arguments have been put forward by industrial organisations. Suresh Kumar Jain of Mysore Industries’ Association said Small Scale Industries (SSIs), which generate bulk of the employment, were taking a hit due to the weekend curfew and, if persisted with, could result in large-scale unemployment aggravating the economic crisis.
