Srinagar: President of Restaurant and Café Association of Kashmir (RAK) today made strong appeal to Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir state and seeks his intervention for providing support for the waive off rents of restaurants and cafés across Kashmir valley as continued closure of business establishments in Kashmir has brought revenue generation to a grinding halt for hospitality sector.
In a statement, Sheikh Feroz, President of the association said, “Our business activities are severely disrupted from last 8 months which makes it hard to pay the rent to landlords. The rent dues are still pending, hence we request all the landlords including UT-government to reduce the rent and to allow the business community to lessen the burden of extra cost to manage their business activities in these testing times.”
He further said that the UT government as a ‘goodwill gesture’ should take a lead to revise the rental agreements of its rented out property and to reduce the charges so that the business community will find a hope to survive.
Sheikh Feroz made an appeal to the landlords across the valley and said, “At a moment our survival is in the hands of landlords. Any reduction of rent dues will actually contribute in providing livelihood to people associated with our industry. We, therefore, request to all the landlords, particularly the UT government to reduce the rent and to equally create a mechanism wherein rent shall be paid in installments to help the business community to survive.”
Pleading the point, the RAK President said: “We are already crushed under the burden of bank loans and other dues and given the fact that there has been income we are unable to pay rentals in time.”
Given the fact that this sector of hospitality industry provides livelihood to thousands of families, Feroz appealed the government to have a compassionate look into the matter.
The RAK expressed commitment in review of the rent agreements once situation normalizes. “We ensure landlords to review the rent agreements after the situation normalizes. But at the moment it would be a great service towards the business community if relaxation is provided in payment of rent through installments, and in some cases to exempt the rental for months when the business was severely impacted due to pandemic situations and before the pandemic situation emerged in Kashmir,” Feroz said.