The Bangladesh Restaurant Owner's Association (BROA) has alleged that a scary environment is being created in the name of conducting mobile courts in their business establishments.
At a press conference held at a city hotel on Saturday, the leaders of the Association demanded that the authorities concerned remove fear and normalise the atmosphere for the betterment of the growing sector.
The Association's Secretary General Imran Hasan read out the demands at the conference, while the platform's President Osman Gani and other executives, and owners of different restaurants were present at the event.
Currently, seven state agencies have been operating mobile courts across the restaurant sector, said the restaurant owners.
The owners demanded formulating a specific policy as to how the existing mobile courts could be conducted in a proper manner.
At present, there are 0.4 million restaurants across the country. Around 3.0 million labourers and staffers are working in this sector.
But the sector is severely neglected, said the insiders, adding that the government had not recognised this sector as an industry yet.
Therefore, the restaurant owners demanded that the government treat the sector as an industry.
Mr Hasan further said restaurant owners had to deal with 11 state agencies to take or renew licences for running their businesses.
For this, he added, they have been facing huge financial losses and harassment.
