If proposal gets nod, they will have to shell out Rs30 per 1,000 litres instead of the existing Rs18.
Restaurant owners and city hoteliers fear the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) proposal to increase water tax for commercial use will burden them no end. While the civic body’s move is aimed at earning the BMC an additional revenue of Rs313.40 crore, the Association of Hotels and Restaurants (Ahar) feels the new charges will suffocate many a small restaurant owner.
If the BMC’s new water tax proposal is okayed, it will result in a Rs12 hike in water tax from the existing rate of Rs18 per 1,000 litres. For the three-star and above hotels, the hike will eventually work out to almost Rs22. This is giving the hotel industry sleepless nights.
Stating that even a small udipi restaurant needs at least 10,000 litres of water everyday, Ahar office-bearer Chandrahas Shetty said, “They have to use water in every single activity, including cooking, drinking, cleaning. Also, most udipi hotel staffers stay within the hotel premises.”
Pointing out that one could walk into any restaurant in the city and ask for free water, he said, “It’s difficult to pass on every single tax hike to our customers, as we risk losing them. In the past one year, apart from the after-effects of inflation, the government has hiked fuel prices twice, thus drastically affecting the price of each and every commodity. And now the hike in water charges stares us in the face. How are we to survive?”
Another hotelier said it was the smaller players in the service industry who were bearing the brunt of these hikes, since they have no choice but to close down their loss-making restaurants.
“In the past two years, over 200 restaurants have closed down in the island city alone. If this state of affairs continue, many more will follow suit,” he added.
The association is now planning to meet the powers-that-be to effect a hike that hurts the former less. Apart from the mayor, standing Committee chairman and opposition leader, before whom they plan to represent their case, they are also planning to meet the chief minister in the next week.
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