Amid curbs, IELTS hubs lose sheen

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 4

Immigration and IELTS centres across the state have started losing sheen due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Facing heavy losses since the lockdown was imposed in March after the outbreak, owners of many IELTS and immigration centres have started vacating their rented accommodation.

In Bathinda, around 90 per cent of the 200 centres are operating from accommodation having a high rent. Many centres have started firing staff to cut losses while some have vacated the rented premises. Some of the institute owners are in talks with building owners to waive the rent.

Apart from this, even the paying guest (PG) owners have also been hit hard.

There are around 250 PG accommodation in and around the Ajit road. These housed a large number of students coming from the Malwa region and adjoining areas of Haryana and Rajasthan. Now, these PGs have also been lying closed for the past two months.

With many foreign countries, including Canada, imposing travel restriction, the students, who were preparing for the IELTS exam or who had received their visas, have been left in the lurch.