Many restaurants in the city had made several types of arrangements.
Restaurant owners across the city followed one simple principle on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was: 'Eat today, pay tomorrow'. A similar message was sent out by the hotel association to its members in the city to follow the same. Some restaurants had two types of arrangements, one included shelter, and the other was free takeaway.
Niranjan Shetty, chairman of the BMC committee of Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (Ahar), apex body of city's hoteliers said, "Normally, during times of distress and such calamities, we owners keep our restaurants open day and night and provide food at reasonable rates and also for free. Most hotel owners gave away free food to those customers who were stranded and couldn't even pay."
He further added, "There are instances when owners cannot leave their hotels, so what we do is prepare food packets and give it to local politicians who, along with their volunteers, stay on the streets and distribute it the stranded people."
Many restaurants in the city had made several types of arrangements. Bineet Salian, who owns Harish Lunch Home in commercial hub Fort — where many people were stranded — claims that they used two techniques. "People who needed shelter stayed back and were accommodated, many even paid for the services. However, there were many who were on the move and couldn't pay, we had made biryani in lots and packed them in containers. We distributed them for free to those who didn't want to wait or where not in a position to pay."
Shetty claims that almost all hotels in Mumbai told their customers to not worry about money, and that they can eat today and pay on any other day they want.
Adarsh Shetty, President of Ahar, said, "We tried sending an advisory to all our hotel owners in Mumbai, but couldn't because of bad network. However, we spoke to many hoteliers, and asked them to do their bit, and were already distributing free food. Our focus was mostly on Fort, Chembur, and Parel area as these parts were severely affected. Our members provided free food to stranded Mumbaikars."
Do your bit
Adarsh Shetty, President of Ahar, said though they couldn’t reach hotel owners with an advisory because of bad network, they told hoteliers to do their bit
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