By Fraaz Mahmud Kasuri

Restaurant Industry in Lahore has been facing hard times for last 18 months due to unplanned lockdowns and wrong policies of the government. Due to the consistent closures and unwanted restrictions, several restaurants have already shut their operations while many are on the verge of collapse.

Lahore Restaurant Association (LRA) has been complaining against the wrong policies of the government time and again but nobody has turned even a deaf ear to the legitimate demands of the restaurant industry’s stakeholders.

In the context of prolonged closures and restrictions, the LRA protest first staged a massive protest outside the Lahore Press Club and then held a press conference inside the club on Saturday 18-09-2021 to send a message to the authorities that restaurant industry in Lahore needs an immediate relief from the government.

Thousands of restaurants’ employees and owners actively participated in the protest and sloganeered for their legitimate rights.

LRA protest executive members while addressing the press conference said that most of businesses in Pakistan are open but restaurants are not being allowed to work properly.

They also said that restaurants are the only places where it is assured that staff and customers both are fully vaccinated but the government does not give any relief to this industry.

They further said that Lahore is the food capital of Pakistan and the city symbolizes hospitality and tourism all over the world but government’s wrong and unjust policies have pushed it to the verge of collapse.

In the press conference, they all demanded an immediate relief and urged the government to reopen the restaurants in Lahore for indoor dining and withdraw Saturday- Sunday off policy and other time restrictions.

They warned the authorities that if their legitimate demands were not met, they would continue protesting at every possible forum across the country.

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