Yenepoya Foundation invites applications for scholarships

Bengaluru, May 29: The hotel industry is one of the worst-hit industries due to lockdown, along with the tourism industry. Bengaluru's hotel industry has incurred a loss of around Rs 1200 crore during the lockdown period however, the hotels here are likely to open in June if the State government issues guidelines for the resumption of their services.

Speaking to media, PC Rao, President, Bangalore Hotelier's Association said, "It's not only the loss of business, but we have lost the customer base as well. 
We don't expect any good future for the next six months. There will be a slow down in the business even after opening."

"We have requested our CM to give first preference to the hotels. We are going to restart our business in June if granted permission. Around 10 per cent of the hotels cannot open at all. They are in the stage of merging or closing down position. Few hotels may open after five or six months," he added.

He continued saying that many hotels are for sale but there are no buyers. There are around 21,000 restaurants in Bangalore, 3500 hotels with rooms and restaurant which has an average turnover of Rs 20 crores per day, Rao informed.

"We expect losses of around Rs 1200 crores in these two months. We are giving special online training to all the hoteliers and to our managers particularly to deal with the COVID-19 situation, including how to deal with the guests, employees, how to start the hotel services. 

Each and every manager has already been trained and we are still continuing it. We will conduct face to face meeting as well and brief the managers," said Rao.

Jan 6: A Thane resident lost a little over Rs 1 lakh in an online fraud involving popular payment gateways, police said on Saturday. The complainant, a resident of Patlipada, wanted to sell his furniture and posted an ad on Facebook on December 21, an official said.

On December 24, he received a call from one Rajendra Sharma who offered to buy the furniture and wanted to transfer the amount through payment gateways — Paytm and Google Pay, he said.

However, instead of the money getting credited to his account, the complainant found that Rs 1.01 lakh were debited from him during three transactions on two payment gateways, the official said.

The complainant realised that he had been cheated when the accused assured that he would return the money and asked him for another account number, he added.

An offense has been registered against the unidentified accused under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act and further investigations are underway, he said.

Bengaluru, Jun 28: Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah asked the Karnataka government to release White Paper over the state of healthcare system and the government's preparedness to address COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that the State Government to come clean on the charges of misappropriation of large sums of funds in the name of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

"People are extremely worried about the state of our healthcare system and the government's preparedness to address pandemic. It is the responsibility of Karnataka Chief Minister to clear the doubts and reduce the panic among people. I urge the government to #ReleaseWhitePaper about the same," the Congress leader tweeted.

Siddaramaiah said that the Chief Minister should let people know about the amount of money already spent to improve healthcare facilities, the number of beds and ventilators increased and about the supply of PPE kits to COVID-19 warriors.

"Karnataka Chief Minister should also reveal the contribution of PMO India to our state. Has Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa demanded anything from Narendra Modi? How much of PM CARES Fund is spent for Karnataka's healthcare?" he asked in another tweet.

He went on to say that PMO India and Chief Minister of Karnataka "wasted crucial time during lockdown."

"The purpose of lockdown was to fill the gaps in health care system. But they just widened it by frequently changing the protocols and by not doing adequate tests," he said.

"Karnataka Chief Minister and other departments have failed to answer my multiple queries regarding the actions taken. As a leader of opposition, it is my right to question the government on behalf of people. Deliberate act of denying information is a breach of privilege. Government hospitals have reached its capacity and private hospitals are not ready to treat patients at capped prices," he wrote.

Siddaramaiah said that the Karnataka Chief Minister should either convince private players or take action against them, and added, "Not doing both is like pushing people off the cliff."

He tweeted, "The testing rates per day have come down in last 15 days even when the cases are rising. What is stopping the government from increasing the testing? The government is putting people at risk by not testing adequately."

Further attacking the state government, he wrote, "Our state needs 9000 ventilators, but we have only 1500, PMO India has sent 90 to us. Is this a joke to Karnataka Chief Minister and PMO India? #ReleaseWhitePaper about the ways that they plan to increase ventilators."