Meal rates reduced at Kozhikode Medical College area hotels

Restaurant owners at the Kozhikode Medical College area
here agreed to scale down the price for “ordinary” meals
after District Collector C.A. Latha held talks on Tuesday
with members of the public and hoteliers.
The decision to hold the meeting was announced following
a public row over the unilateral price hike for food served at
restaurants and hotels near the medical college premises.
The agitations had reached a boiling point on Monday when
members of the public and activists held demonstrations
against the restaurants, claiming they were fleecing poor
patients and their families.
“The Collector decided to intervene in public interest in her
role as the district’s chief administrator. The talks led the
hoteliers to agree to reduce the rate of ordinary meals by
Rs. 2,” T.K.A. Azeez, district committee president, Medical
College Area Janakiya Prathirotha Samithi, said after
attending the meeting.
The samithi had led the protests, saying meals were priced
at Rs. 32 in the handful of hotels in the area and rates were
increased twice in one month, leaving patients in dire
straits. “A little farther down, in Kovoor, a basic meal costs
only Rs. 28,” Mr. Azeez said. During the meeting, consumer
activists and assorted members of the public told the
Collector that the hotels should either bring down the food
rates or they be allowed to serve subsidized meals through
canteens set up with the co-operation of the hospital
development committee. N.B. Krishna Kurup, State
president of the Hotels and Restaurants Association, had
justified the hike, saying it was motivated by the rising
prices of commodities.