WITH many businesses struggling and closing down due to multiple lockdown restrictions, a restaurant owner took to social media to vent out his frustration after getting fined by the authorities.
RATA Restaurant owner, Vicneswara Thenamirtham poured his heart out in a nearly three-minute video appealing to the public and authorities to understand the predicament restaurant owners were going through.
Relating his ordeal, Vicneswara, popularly known as Chef Vic, voiced his discontentment for getting slapped with a RM10,000 compound for allegedly operating beyond the 8pm time limit.
“I received a lot of orders from Grab at 7.30pm and I didn’t want to disappoint my customers. As we were trying to finish up, the authorities came to my outlet.
“They just issued me a compound of RM10,000 despite my pleas,” he said.
Vicneswara added that RM10,000 is a lot of money, given the tough economic climate and dwindling customers’ order due to the pandemic situation.
“It’s not easy managing a restaurant business where I have to ensure orders are delivered, with only 60% employees working.
“A lot of businesses are struggling like mine and they will understand my pain. It’s very difficult,” he lamented.
Have a heart
Vicneswara then urged the public to continue supporting small and medium businesses like his, so that they could weather these trying times and resume operations as usual once COVID-19 subsides.
“We’re doing our level best to earn between RM1,000 and RM2,000 daily so that we can pay rental, manage staff salaries and keep things running.
“As for my fine, I will now have to approach the Health Ministry to sort out the matter,” he remarked.
Many businesses have folded and are in dire straits due to the multiple lockdowns imposed by the Government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
While Putrajaya announced various aids in the first movement control order to help businesses and the people, the same did not happen for the second lockdown.
Putrajaya had also refused to announce a blanket loan moratorium but offered a targetted assistance instead, saying another blanket loan moratorium may affect the banking industry. – June 26, 2021
