Hotels, eateries shut up shop for Tusu in Jamshedpur

JAMSHEDPUR: For those who’d rather catch up with friends over a steaming cup of tea at a dhaba over the next three days, there’s bad news in store. Most of the roadside eateries are closed and hotels have stopped serving tea with majority of their staff on leave.
Given that hotels and dhabas in and around the Steel City employ largely tribal workers, with celebrations of the annual harvest festival of Tusu still on, many have gone back home in the adjoining states of Odisha and Bengal.These workers visit their native place once in year to be with their family during festivities. This is when hotels, roadside eateries and dhabas are worst-hit.
“My hotel remains shut for three days beginning today. We resume business only after half the strength of the staff return to work. This has been the norm for the past two decades,” said Avinash Jaiswal of Jaiswal Hotel, Sakchi.
Echoing similar sentiments, the owner of Sindhi Hotel in Baridih, said that through the three consecutive days, he along with his workers go on leave and have a gala time with family and friends.
“There’s no point keeping the hotel open when almost all the staff members go on leave. So I shut the shop and take a break from work,” said Gopal Sharma, owner of the Sindhi hotel.
According to traders, hoteliers incur losses to the tune of lakhs of rupees, during this period. “It’s difficult to calculate the actual figure of loss, but we could assume that the loss is in lakhs,” said Jamshedpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, functionary Mohanlal Agarwal.
He added Tusu festival is the only occasion when hotels are closed in the industrial town. “Nearly 80% of the hotels, which include roadside tea stalls, modest eateries and a few popular restaurants, pull down their shutters for a couple of days once in a year as it is little difficult to run the business in the absence of adequate hands,” said Jamshedpur Hoteliers Association, functionary, Prabhakar Singh.
“We won’t mind if we lose our wages for three days,” said Kisnu Parmanik, staff of Mathura Hotel, Kadma.