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Dimapur, Nov. 7 (EMN): Twenty-seven hotels in Dimapur have written to the chief minister, asking him to release an outstanding bill of INR 1,74,62,885 (Rupees one crore seventy-four lakh sixty-two thousand eight hundred and eighty-five) accumulated as ‘food bills and room rent’ when the hotels were requisitioned as quarantine facilities and isolation centres for returnees and frontline workers as part of the state government’s initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a memorandum addressed to the chief minister, the Nagaland Hotel and Restaurant Association (NHRA) stated that it has been six months since the bills were presented to the authority concerned for early settlement but remain unpaid till date.
“...regardless of the surging number of Covid positive cases, with full co-operation we, the hoteliers, keeping in mind of the global 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,” read the memorandum.
However, the unpaid bills are “a matter of great concern as it is to understand that the hotel employees are the sole bread earner in the families, finding hard to meet both ends,” it stated, adding that unable to disburse various statutory payments, the hoteliers are ‘facing immense stress to clear backlogs’.
The association 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.