Restaurants down shutters for 48 hours, after blame for jaundice >From Frederick Noronha
Panaji (Goa), Aug 26: Restaurants, bars and hotels in the capital of the tourist state of Goa are going on a two-day self-imposed mass closure, as fingers of blame pointed to them over a jaundice spreading rampantly here. But the hoteliers insisted that they were being "targeted for no mistake of ours but for a mistake of the water supply department". Hoteliers in this small statecapital -- with a resident population of an estimated 40,000 which swells to two-and-half times that figure due to the daytime influx of government servants, office employees, shoppers, and tourists -- say Panaji has an estimated 500-plus hotels, restaurants and bars. (This figure may be an overestimate, in a state where there are an estimated nearly 10,000 claimed restaurant, bars and eateries -- a figure shored up largely by the number of bars which dot the towns and villages due to Goa's policy.) This move is likely to hit both tourists and locals. Over the past fortnight, Panaji has been hit by jaundice fears, after a little fewer nearly 250 persons fell ill with jaundice. Sections of the local media faulted the government and the authorities, but the latter stepped up the drive against hotels running amidst allegedly unsanitary conditions. The immediate cause for this jaundice outbreak is, however, believed to be the accidentally mixing of sewage pipes and the drinking water supply in the downtown Cine Nacionale and Azad Maidan localities of town. "For the first time we are targeted for no mistake of ours, but for a mistake of the water supply department," charged Goa Hotel and Restaurant Association president Prakash Naik, talking to journalists late Monday. "Some of our members have been in this business for two to three generations. The public, students, ladies and tourists have come to (our eateries) with deep faith," said Naik. "Why would I do this to ruin my business? Our family has been running (one of the best known small eataries in Panaji) for the past three generations," Milind Bhosle told this correspondent, also arguing that the hoteliers were being unnecessarily targeted. Bhonsle runs the Cafe Bhonsle, run out of a fifty-year-old building, which was, as he himself puts it, the worst hit by the jaundice spread. Another hoteliers, speaking on condition of confidentiality, said that while the action of a mass shut-down was being projected as spontaneous, it was also prompted by stern warnings from the chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, that sealing of hotels would take place in case they were inspected and found lacking. Goa celebrates its most popular Hindu festival -- Ganesh Chaturthi -- on the weekend, which usually sees many smaller restaurants and eateries taking a weeklong break. Prefixed to this closure, some hotels in the state capital could now be closed for as long as a ten-day gap. Hoteliers said they met the chief minister alongwith Panaji mayor Ashok Naik. They said during the two-day 'voluntary closure' on Tuesday-Wednesday, they would be looking after "major repairs and maintenance". "Hotels near the Cine Nacionale locality have already rectified their supply of water. They are going to do major maintenance over the next two days," said Naik of the hoteliers' body. Meanwhile, official quarters here stated that 33 hotels in Panjim have been issued notices directing them to "voluntarily close" till they upgrade their premises to suit the hygienic standards specified under the law. But, in turn, the hoteliers complained that inspections are provided for under the law but, in reality, "nobody comes" to check up. Occasionally they come, some hoteliers said, but insinuated that the inspectors were not doing their job adequately say hoteliers who laugh when faced with suggestions of corruption aggravating the problem. "(Municipal tap water) is available in Panaji for just one to two hours daily. That's not sufficient for us. We bring in water by the tankers. We've asked the state to supply public-works department water. But the CM says he doesn't trust the PWD," said Naik. "Jaundice is a big tree. We are just a branch," he argued, and called upon non-government organisations (NGOs) to help take up the issue. Goa admitted that jaundice, or Hepatitis-E, claimed its first life in the state, with the death of Rajendra Kudnekar of Saligao. The patient was brought to the main Goa Medical College Hospital too late in the day, official suggested. State authorities however claimed that the number of patients reporting ill was declining. Meetings are being convened of officials to discuss an unusual problem in a state which has, in past years, grapped repeatedly with malaria, and occasionally with Japanese Encephalitis and even a SARS scare earlier this year. (IANS) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 fred at bytesforall.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
