Restaurant owners on Saturday urged the government to supply them with the subsidised foodstuffs from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to help their businesses survive amid the record surge in prices of essential commodities.
They said they were yet to recover from the losses they suffered in the Covid-19 pandemic fallout.
Many of the restaurant owners had wound up their businesses due to the skyrocketing prices of foodstuffs like sugar, vegetables, edible oils and rice, they mentioned.
The restaurant owners made the observations at the 34th central executive committee meeting of Bangladesh Restaurant Owners' Association (BROA) held at the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB) auditorium in the capital.
Addressing the meeting where restaurant owners from different areas of the country attended, secretary general of the BROA Imran Hasan said they were incurring heavy losses for selling foods that cost higher for increased prices of essential commodities.
He added the restaurant owners have not yet raised the prices of food items even after the price spiral of raw materials.
Besides, high tariffs of water, power and gas are complicating the situation further in case of doing hassle-free businesses and compelled many owners to shut their entities.
The BROA chief said if the restaurant owners get sugar, edible oils, onion and lentil at subsidised rates from the TCB, it would be possible for them to continue business.
He also called upon the government to stop 'harassment' by a section of officials in the name of mobile courts.
He urged the government to arrange training for the unskilled workers in the interest of serving cent per cent hygienic foods at restaurants.
"We call upon the government to supply us with TCB goods so that we could run our businesses," he said.
President of BROA Osman Gani, Vice-President Shah Sultan Khokon, Chief Adviser of the organisation Ruhul Amin and first joint secretary general Firoz Alam Suman were present, among others, at the event.