Vitthal Shetty, president, Pimpri Chinchwad Hotel and Restaurant Association said that the decision to increase the rates of food items sold at the hotels and restaurants was taken at a meeting held recently. "The rates of ingredients of food items like pulses, spices, vegetables and meat have increased in the past few months. Normally the rates are increased at the beginning of the year. Moreover the salaries of the employees at the hotels have to be increased as we do not get people who are ready to work at lower wages. As a result we have been forced to increase the prices of food items between 15 to 20 %", he said.
The hoteliers also discussed the issue about alleged harassment by the police. 'The police are asking some hotels to close down by 11 pm when the permitted closing timing is 12 midnight. A delegation of officebearers of the association will be meeting deputy commissioner of police(DCP), zone three in this regard soon', Shetty said.
He added, 'The state government has taken away the food licence department of the municipal corporations and attached them to the state government. The office of the food licence department is in Pune. The hotel and restaurant owners have to go to the Pune office which is time consuming. We have demanded that the food licence department office should be started in Pimpri Chinchwad city.'
"There are around 120 members of the association. We give membership to only the people who have valid licences of the police and food and drug administration(FDA) department. There are more than 1200 hotels and restaurants in the city", Shetty said.
