Male, Maldives – Owners of cafe’s and restaurants have submitted a petition to the Parliament of Maldives and the Health Protection Agency (HPA), voicing out their concerns.
Local media “One” reported that the owners of cafe’s and restaurants of Maldives have released a statement saying that due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses have been suffering, while several have even gone bankrupt.
The statement further read that due to this, they have prepared and submitted a petition to the Parliament and HPA, in this regard. It also claimed than a 108 businesses signed the petition, adding that they hope that the government will act swiftly in addressing the concerns mentioned in the petition. The wished the Maldivian businesses better days ahead.
Highlighting the current issue faced by home-based cooks and chefs, following HPA’s notice to register the outlets with immediate effect, the statement added that they would cooperate and assist in registering the unregistered outlets.
However, the matter of home-based cooks and chefs being required to register the outlets, has been met with heavy criticism by the public with even lawyers pointing out that the regulations were not designed to accommodate those who prepare food out of their home kitchens for their small businesses.
As the matter came to light on Monday, the announcement of HPA was shortly followed by leaked chats of members of the Restaurant Association of Maldives (RAM) which called for the “eradication” of unregistered online food vendors.
With this, many took to defend the home based workers, calling for the boycotting of the food outlets which are a part of RAM.
