Thiruvananthapuram: Many popular budget hotels run by the Kudumbashree Mission find the going tough and may have to put up the shutters as the Kerala Government has failed to provide subsidies to the tune of Rs 30 crore.
A total of 1,116 Kudumbashree-run Janakeeya hotels across the state are yet to receive the government assistance. In districts like Ernakulam, the payment is due since April last year. Nearly 20 of them have already shut down here after the operations turned financially unviable.
As many as 20 Janakeeya hotels located across the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, and Kasaragod districts too have closed down. A Janakeeya hotel in Guruvayur is yet to get Rs 12 lakh, while the dues to units at Perumbavoor and Palakkad stand around Rs 8 lakh each.
The budget hotels were charging just Rs 20 for a meal and Rs 25 for a food parcel as they have been receiving Rs 10 per plate as a government subsidy. But, with subsidy arrears shooting up to lakhs of rupees, the all-woman personnel are struggling to manage the day-to-day operations at many of these budget hotels.
Nearly two lakh people rely on these hotels.
Price rise compound problem
The soaring prices of essential commodities coupled with a rise in the prices of cooking gas and water and water have worsened the fiscal crunch of the hotels.
These hotels take delivery of the rice stock from Supplyco at Rs 10.90 per kilogram. The subsidy amount to each unit is allotted by the State Finance Department after due verification of their expenditure accounts by the Kudumbashree at the district and state levels.
Local administrative bodies are unwilling to meet the power and rent expenditure of Janakeeya hotels.
The scene is no different at the 50 Subhiksha hotels run by the State Civil Supplies Department in association with the local bodies and the Kudumbashree.
