Panjim: With nearly over 40 days of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all barber shops, beauty parlours, salons and spa are shut in Goa. It has directly affected over 2,000 people working in this sector in Goa and the fear is that many of them may not be able to survive for a longer period.
Bina Punjani, Art Director of Bina Punjani Hair Studio with three units and one academy and about 35 staff members said, “Please start this industry with clear guidelines and messages on how to protect the client and the service provider specially when there is a scare of COVID-19.”
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“Today 100 of salon owners had a zoom meeting and we are worried that if this lockdown in barber shops, salons, spa etc continues for a longer period, then our industry is going to practically die down and not more than 10 of thousands will survive six months. Our employees are mostly migrants and we have to take care of their accommodation, food etc along with our own rentals, salaries, and electricity bills and State taxes with no earnings. We are ready to follow all protocols set by the government,” said the founder of Tatva Spa, Asha Arondekar.
She added that they will soon be writing to the State govtVandana S. Nevgi who is distributor of accessories and materials for beauty parlours from Mapusa, believes that there are over thousand salons, barber shops etc in Goa. She is playing a coordinating role and organised a Zoom meeting for many players and soon a letter will drafted to be sent to the govt.
“Our main demand is to allow us to open our shops with all the laid government approved protocols. In case it cannot be done then we will seek help from the government for our survival during this extremely critical phase,” Nevgi added.
Mario Barneto, owner of Neomi’s which has five outlets spread across Goa, wanted clarity on what government would be offering to this industry for their survival. “Some of the salons, which are paying rentals, will surely collapse as there is no business at this point of time. As of now even the landlords are supporting us. I have more than 100 staff working for us. Taking care of so many staff is a major issue. The government must subsidise GST, give soft loans with less interests through EDC for the business sustenance. We are however not sure how government will respond to our demands but we do need help urgently.”
