There seems to be no end to the Bangla row after a techie father and his 14-year-old son, were denied stay at a hotel at Sector 44 in Noida, apparently for being a Bengali. The teenager who is national level skater had come to the city to take part in a tournament due to happen in Noida.
According to The Times Of India report, the father claimed the hotel receptionist cancelled his reservation booking which he made through OYO for two nights claiming that the local police station had instructed them not to allow anyone from Bangladesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to stay at hotels till Aug 15 for security reasons.
Bengali father and son denied stay in Noida
Speaking to TOI the father said,"The receptionist said the local police instructed them not to allow any guest from Bangladesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. I was surprised. I said we were not Bangladeshis but were from West Bengal. But the receptionist said it was the same thing and that he wouldn't let us in,".
The father also claimed that he had booked the earlier hotel in Sector 44 as it was near the skating rink, where registrations would begin early Wednesday. However once he was denied the stay he made multiple calls to OYO before deciding to check into another hotel after his issue was left unattended.
He said,"The customer care executive finally took the call and said they would refund my amount in 7-10 days. I had no other option but to check into another hotel in Sector 49, far from the arena,"
Did OYO take action on the issue?
As per teh report an OYO official issued an apology and stated the hotel Meera Eternitywas removed from the booking platform on Tuesday itself and that an inquiry was initiated.
The statement said, "OYO has neither received or given any such guideline to hotels on its platform. OYO does not promote any form of discrimination...".
Noida DCP Yamuna Prasad told TOI there had been no official instruction from the Noida Police to hotels to deny entry to people from Bengal or any other state. "Hotels are told to check ID and visa documents of people from Bangladesh but there is no directive to disallow stay to even Bangladeshi residents if they have proper papers,"
