PUNE: With hotels and mess across the city shut due to the threat of coronavirus diseases (COVID-19), the students, as well as bachelors, are opting for ordering in or cooking themselves.
“Due to erratic timings of my shifts, I am usually unable to cook at home and depend on outside food. However, we have been asked to work from home, so I have started cooking for myself now,” IT professional Shabduli Khokrale said. While most restaurants are closed for visitors, delivery of foods through apps like Zomato and Swiggy are still open.
“We do have responses on delivery through apps and those restaurants that can afford to keep their kitchens running are doing so,” said President of Pune Restaurant and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA) Ganesh Shetty. He added, “It’s not very viable to keep the kitchen running only for delivery, but we have to think of the customers also. Many bachelors and students are dependent on us.”
However, the student community depending on mess is now struggling to find food in the city at an affordable cost.
“Many college hostels have been closed, examinations have been postponed and students have been asked to go home. However, it’s not possible for everybody to go back home and these are the students who do not have places to eat a full meal. Even the mess that are open now might shut down in a couple of days,” student activist Kuldeep Ambekar said.
