When A.J. Ganapathi went to a hotel near Mangaladevi temple on Sunday, he was served buns on a paper plate.
The server smiled at him and said the hotel was facing acute water shortage and hence, snacks, like ‘goli baje’, ‘ambade’, ‘podi’, which are served with chutney, and sweets like ‘ksheera’ were being served on paper plates. For, the hotel did not have enough water to wash steel plates.
Swarna Sunder, vice-president, Dakshina Kannada Hotels and Restaurants’ Association, told The Hindu that some hotels had introduced eco-friendly bio-plates made from arecanut sheaths or arecanut leaf plates. But this did not go down well with many customers who are yet to get accustomed to it.
Mr. Sunder said river Netravathi drying up has hit hotels and lodges in Mangaluru, with the owners of middle-class hotels and restaurants worst hit.
Many of them can’t even depend on private tankers anymore as many of them are either getting too many requests or have been hired by Mangaluru City Corporation to supply water.
On the other hand, the flow of customers to hotels has also increased with the tourist season beginning. What is more, people who are unable to cook at home due to water shortage also come to hotels, Mr. Sunder said.
Chain impact
He said hotels and lodges in Mangaluru make profits during summer and don’t do so well during monsoon. They use the profits made during summer to manage the hotel/restaurant when it begins to rain.
But the water shortage has made this difficult as they don’t have profits to fall back on.
He said only the hotels/restaurants having borewells, open wells or the capacity to hire a large number of tankers have not been affected. Water scarcity has hit about 600 hotels and restaurants, excluding bars, visited mostly by the middle class. As such hotels and restaurants remain open from early morning to late evening, they require huge quantities of water.
The flow of customers to hotels has increased
with the start of the tourist season
