Pune: As the political heat is rising in Bihar over the scheduled state assembly elections there, hoteliers in Pune are getting more and more worried. Now you may think about what’s this bizarre connection between Pune and Bihar elections?

The state government allowed reopening of hotels and restaurants in the Unlock 5.0 phase. Now even though the hoteliers are willing to open their outlets, they are facing an acute staff crunch. The waiters, cooks and other staff which had gone to their native places are not ready to return to Pune yet and election-time easy availability of money has held them back. As a result, several hoteliers are finding it difficult to run their outlets even with 50 per cent occupancy.

Pune city has more than eight thousand hotels and restaurants while about two lakh people are employed in this industry. Most of the people employed in the hotel industry are from Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

Hoteliers believe that most of the staff would return only after the elections and Diwali season. Also on the other side, since the student population has also not returned to the city, running the hotels and restaurants in profit sans enough customers has become even more difficult.

One of the hoteliers said, Bihar elections and the just started festive season has added to the woes of staff crunch. Even though we are calling our staff, they are not willing to return at this point of time. Also, there are some problems regarding unavailability of transport means.