By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 17 Mar: A meeting of the executive body of the Hotels & Restaurants Association of Uttarakhand was held in Dehradun this evening. The meeting was chaired by President of the Association, Sandeep Sahni, a leading hotelier from Mussoorie.
The meeting was attended by a large number of members that included Honorary Secretary of the Association, Deepak Gupta and Treasurer Sanjay Gupta besides leading hoteliers like Rakesh Chugh, Manu Kochhar, Amit Vaish, Arun Goyal, Ajay Bhargava, Mintu Panjwani, Ved Shah, Rajat Aggarwal, Shailendra and Prateek Karanwal amongst others.
The meeting mainly discussed the upcoming Char Dham Yatra and upcoming summer season which is the major tourist season in the state. In addition, various problems being faced by the industry in running the establishments were also discussed. Concerns were also expressed regarding annual 15 percent hike in water usage charges and such a steep hike was described as unfair. It was also reminded that electricity charges are also being hiked on a regular basis. It was also reminded that the industry faces numerable problems in securing all the permissions for construction of new hotels. It was further felt that a high bar licence fee was another issue of concern given the fact that tourism is a mainstay industry in the state.
Discussions were also held regarding proper management of traffic in the summer season ,during the Char Dham Yatra on the Yatra routes and on the Kainchi Dham route.
Speaking to Garhwal Post, President of the Association, Sandeep Sahni observed that the good thing about the hotel industry in Uttarakhand is that almost all entrepreneurs are from Uttarakhand and over 90 percent of the employees in this industry are also from the state.
The Association also decided to soon meet Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and to apprise him of the problems faced by the Hospitality Industry.
