EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 10: In the meeting of office bearers of All Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association held through video conferencing, the chairman, Inderjeet Khajuria expressed great concern over the plight of hoteliers after the Unlock 1.0 during which they have been pushed to innumerable hardships rather than any respite.
Pawan Gupta, President of the association hailed the healthy decision of government of allowing the opening of hotels and lodges with SOPs (standard operating procedures) but expressed disappointment and dismay on ignoring the tourism sector completely from the purview of any relief package by the government. It is pertinent to mention here that the condition of hotel industry, quite different from other industries has worsened after unlockdown 1.0 due to zero trade activity but usual daily main expenditure of electricity, water, municipal charges, sanitization, masks, staff etc and thus needs government assistance for its survival. As directed by the district administration, the association instructed all its members to observe SOPs , especially sanitization of hotel premises wearing of masks and gloves by guests and staff, maintaining of social distancing, etc.in letter and spirit as they are in best interest of hoteliers as well as for clients and staff.
In terms of income earning during post lockdown, hotel industry is going to meet the same fate as its other tourist fraternity members like dry fruit, shawl, handicraft dealers, travel agents, tour operators who have started closure of their premises for an indefinite period due to prevailing nil business activity and huge daily expenditure.
In order to save the dying hotel industry from extinction, the association once again appealed the government to come to their rescue by immediately waiving off electricity, water, municipal charges and give a special instant relief package on the same pattern as given in the year 2003 during the regime of Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, for the revival of hotel industry.
Other office bearers present were H S Manhas, Anil Khajuria, Pritam Sharma, Baldev Raj , Sunil Suri, Swarn Singh, Sankul Gupta, Manpreet Singh and ML Sharma.
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