Star Hotels in Kolkata Answer Govt's Call, Ready 400 Rooms for ‘Comfortable Self-isolation’ Amid Lockdown

Kolkata: Nearly 15 star hotels in Kolkata have come forward with close to 400 swanky rooms for those who want to stay in isolation as a part of social distancing in full privacy amid a complete lockdown over coronavirus pandemic.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) had an internal meeting after it received requests from the Health Ministry, and decided to extend their full support to the state government in this hour of crisis.

A list of hotels and availability of rooms has been sent to the West Bengal government and a request made for imparting medical training to staff in handling those who want to stay in isolation.

“In the wake of COVID-19, we had a discussion with the state tourism and health department. We have been asked to request all our hotel owners/members to come forward in allocating rooms for the purpose of self-isolation and self-quarantine for those who want to stay in hotels to avail facility,” Sudesh Kumar Poddar, Secretary of HRAEI, said.

“Following the request, we decided to offer nearly 400 rooms mainly in three and four star hotels. A total of 15 hotel owners agreed to provide rooms and soon we will make a list of our hotel staff, who will be trained by the health officials in handling the guests who want to avail hotel isolation facility,” he added.

He said, “The training will be given as per WHO norms like how to serve food, which food should be served, how to sanitise the rooms and their personal items, etc. This is a challenging task but we are ready to take this task because we feel that we must stand with the state government in this crisis.”

“The state health department has promised to provide us all kind of help. Please convey the message that only asymptomic guest will stay in isolation for 14 days. In case someone develops any symptoms, then they will be handled as per government guidelines,” he added.

Besides providing comfortable isolation, HRAEI has also initiated dialogue with the state government for assisting them in distributing dry food items like breads, banana and puffed rice to the needy.

“We have arranged a delivery van and requested the state government to allow us to distribute it as we will be needing police permission due to the lockdown. We will start distributing this to all the poor and hungry,” he said.