Bengaluru: After the Supreme Court had observed that the states can denotify highways which are coming under the city limits, it had generated hope among pub and bar owners, but now with each passing day they are feeling despondent.
After getting no response from the government, The Pub World downed shutters on July 1 and Pecos at the Church Street has shifted to BTM.
While the losses are estimated to be in lakhs, over thousand employees have been fired, according to Ashok Sadhwani, owner of The Pub World. He defines the loss in one sentence, “We are finished.”
“This is too big a period to survive. The basic expenses have not reduced and in many cases, the landlords are not cooperating. Though it was expected that the government would look after our problems, hardly anything was done,” he added.
Sadhwani is of the view that unemployed workers may start committing suicide, on the lines of farmers, due to lack of job opportunities and the financial constraints they are facing.
The promoters of Pecos waited for the government’s denotification order, but when nothing conclusive happened they shifted to BTM. Another outlet they had at Indiranagar has shifted to Banaswadi
Pecos Manager Srinivas Gowda told Deccan Chronicle, “Around 20 of the new recruits were asked to leave, but we are still paying the salary to the workers who were with us for a long time. We are not waiting for the government’s decision now.” He also added that in the backdrop of the losses the company made in the past one month, they had cut down the extra benefits its staffs used to get. Both Sadhwani and Gowda conceded that it was painful for them to fire employees. Pecos expects that the new outlet at the BTM would take nearly three months to get to the roots of the business.
