Restaurants Associations welcome NCOC chief’s statement but demand relief package
Zubair Qureshi
All Rawalpindi Islamabad Restaurants Association has welcomed the statement of the Chairman of the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) and Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiative Asad Umar who on Friday assured the restaurants, marriage halls and private schools and hotels of a compensation package as they had borne huge loss during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asad Umar had given this statement during his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industries (ICCI).
While welcoming the statement, the Rawalpindi association of restaurants demanded the package should be comprehensive and made keeping in mind that the restaurants remained almost closed for two years.
Secretary General of the association Chaudhry Farooq said that during the pandemic the government had not given any relief to the restaurants and as a result most of the restaurants especially those running their businesses in the rented buildings were forced to close down.
Giving details of what he termed irreparable loss to the restaurant industry Farooq said that more than 23,000 restaurants had been completely closed down so far leaving around 12 million people jobless.
He feared if the government did not come up with some relief package and relaxation against what he termed irrational and illogical restrictions, many more restaurants would close down and more people would lose jobs.
We hope that the government would take a sympathetic view of the whole situation and would not push us against the wall, he said.
