Hundreds went hungry as eateries remained closed on Wednesday as part of the 24-hour State-wide strike called by the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA).
The token strike was called to protest against the hike in commercial LPG cylinder prices.
Hotel owners closed their outlets and took out protest marches and staged dharnas in front of petroleum companies and Central government institutions across the State. The march and dharna held at the IOC office at Panampilly Nagar, Kochi, was inaugurated by KHRA State president G. Jayapal.
Expressing regret over the inconvenience caused to the public due to the strike, association office-bearers said the decision was taken to draw the attention of the public and the government to the issue.
All hotels, restaurants, and wayside eateries remained closed, pointing to the grave situation that the industry is headed towards, said Mr. Jayapal.
Hoteliers further said that they were not enthused about increasing the prices of food items and shifting the burden to the public. “We want the prices to be down to a little less than half of what is being announced. Otherwise, moving forward in the business would be nearly impossible,” Mr. Jayapal said.
V.T. Hariharan, Ernakulam district president of the association, said the token strike was aimed at bringing the issue to the attention of the government. “We hope the government takes notice of the issue and makes changes. If the price hike is not rolled back, we will be forced to increase the prices of food items even though we don’t want to,” said Mr. Hariharan.
K.B. Sasi, a restaurant owner and the Perumbavoor unit president of the KHRA, said the past three months had already seen a price hike that exceeded ₹1,000. “Earlier, the increase would be by ₹100 or ₹200. But this time, it was a jump, which was only ₹7 short of ₹1,000. This is worrying as we cannot sustain the business if the cylinder prices go up like this,” he added.
Torchlight demonstration
Meanwhile, the All Kerala Caterers Association (AKCA) is all set to organise a State-wide protest and kitchen closure strike against the price hike. As part of the strike, a torchlight demonstration will be organised from Vanchi Square to Menaka Junction in the city on Thursday evening. The office-bearers announced that catering and kitchen establishments would stage protests in front of district and Central government institutions on Friday demanding the rollback of the hike.