Dimapur hoteliers submit memorandum to CM
Dimapur, November 7 (MExN): The Nagaland government has been asked to release over Rs 1.74 crore in unpaid bills to at least 27 hotels in Dimapur that were requisitioned as quarantine facilities and isolation centres for returnees, frontline workers and officials on duty as part of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister on Saturday, the Nagaland Hotel and Restaurant Association (NHRA) stated that it has been six months since the bills amounting to Rs 1,74,62,885 were presented to the concerned authority for early settlement. However, it said that the bills are still unpaid despite subsequent appeal letters and visits to the concerned authority.
The outstanding bills are for ‘food bills and room rent’ accumulated from the month of May to October, the NHRA informed.
It said that regardless of the surge in COVID-19 positive cases, “with full cooperation, we the hoteliers, keeping in mind the humanitarian crisis, have mitigated in the frontlines, assisting the District Administration/DTF, Empowered Committee, Accommodation Team and Food Catering, offering the best of services unconditionally.”
However, the unpaid bills, it said, are a matter of great concern, “as it is to understand that hotel employees are the sole bread earner in the families, finding it hard to make ends meet.”
Additionally, hoteliers are also facing immense stress as they are unable to disburse various statutory payments, it added.
As such, the NHRA appealed to the Chief Minister to release the pending bills by November.
“Needless to say that our situation may demand even to the extent of protest till concrete steps are taken by the state government on this matter,” it added.
