early times report
Katra, Nov 3: Hotel & Restaurant Association, Katra (HRAK), in a meeting held here today, urged the government to announce a rehabilitation package for Hotels and other tourism-related establishments on the lines as the one announced by the banking sector or even better than that.
The Association highlighted that the tourism industry of the region has faced an unprecedented crisis due to a series of tragic and disturbing events — including the Pahalgam attack, Indo-Pak war tensions, continuous landslides that claimed precious lives on the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji track, the unfortunate demise of 34 pilgrims at Vaishno Devi Ji, the Machail incident, and the prolonged disruption of Yatra and business activities.
The continuous stoppage of all major trains by the Railway Authorities after land slides is also one of major reasons for major down fall of business.
Owing to these circumstances, the financial health of tourism units deteriorated severely, making it difficult to meet even basic operational expenses. As a result, the Reserve Bank of India, Government authorities, and J&K Bank had introduced rehabilitation concessions to ease the burden on business establishments.
However, the Association expressed concern that no such relief has been provided by the Electricity Department, despite the sector facing identical losses. Representatives pointed out that in the hotel industry, power consumption remains essential irrespective of occupancy. Even with only one — or no — rooms occupied, hotels must keep essential lighting and other electrical systems operational. Consequently, while there was little to no income during the crisis, electricity bills continued to accumulate, pushing many units into debt.
The representatives further stressed that the need of the hour is to float a similar rehabilitation and waiver/relief package for electricity dues, enabling hotel and allied establishments to revive smoothly and contribute positively to the regional economy and pilgrimage-based tourism.
They appealed to the concerned authorities to take immediate cognizance of the matter and extend the required relief measures without further delay.
The Association was of considered opinion that all stopped trains should be started at the earliest without wastage of any time because it is hurting the business in a big way besides being major inconvenience to the people.
The meeting among others was attended by Association’s President Rakesh Wazir,Chairman Shyam Lal Kesar,Sr.Vice President Virender Kesar,Vice Presidents Ajay Kotwal,Nishant Sharma,Vivek Sharma,Amit Rahi,Secretary Sudershan Sharma etc.
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