Asked when the hotel would resume operations, he said it depended on how soon the government would give them the urgently needed financial assistance. His main concern was the fate of the 600 strong experienced staff, whose future now depended on the government assistance. Most of the staff earned virtually two third of their pay packets from service charges and almost all was lost with the blast, he said. President Chandrika Kumaratunga had assured that all assistance would be given to the hotels that were damaged so that they could be back in business at the earliest, Mr. Mohotti said stressing that he hoped government machinery would move fast. With a lot of renovation to be done and a host of items to be imported we hope the government will waive off the duty, so that we could import items like carpets etc.
Every room has to be redone.
Asked what the owners of Hotel, the Galadari brothers felt about the extensive damage, Mr. Mohotti said the owners had been servicing a loan of the hotel upto Rs 400 million annually with no return from Colombo. They are disillusioned with no present or future prospects. The security threat, the 1983 riots, turmoil during the Indo-Lanka accord, JVP uprising etc. Meanwhile, Tourism Ministry Secretary, W. P.S Jayawardena said upto Thursday evening the cancellations were less than three hundred. The entire world knows that Hotel Galadari, Hilton and Inter-Continental had been affected badly.