SRINAGAR: The losses to Kashmir’s tourism industry since August last year are rather well known, but it is bleeding from many other less-visible cuts as well, in the form of charges that the government continues to exact.
President of Kashmir Hoteliers and Restaurant Association (KHARA) Abdul Wahid Malik told Kashmir Reader that every month a hotelier has to pay basic minimum charges to the government irrespective of whether any business is done or not.
These charges, he said, accumulate to crores of money a month for the hoteliers. One major burden is electricity charges, which are around Rs 150 per KW, followed by water charges, sewerage charges, and garbage charges. “For my hotel it amounts to about Rs 40,000 a month. So is the case with other hotels,” he told Kashmir Reader. “Government should waive us this money in this crisis. It could be very helpful in times of slackened cash flow.”
Hoteliers have come together in the past to seek waivers after tourism vanished post August 5 last year. Almost all hotels are empty, leading to layoffs of staff. Only about 186 tourists including 11 foreigners visited the valley in the month of July this year, a recent report has revealed. In August, 284 tourists including 33 foreigners visited Kashmir. These figures are nothing compared to the tens of thousands of tourists who visited the Valley in these months.
A massive Rs 1166.81 crore has been estimated to be lost due to lack of tourism since abrogation of Article 370 and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Such is the sorry state of affairs that the government has not even paid hotels for using them as quarantine facilitiesm Rs 45 crore is still unpaid to hotels on this account. Wahid said that repeated requests to the administration have made no difference.
Wahid also said that as there is no likelihood of a good tourism season ahead, the government must consider waiving charges. He said that various bodies have met the government many times, pleading this issue. “Nothing

Junaid Nabi Bazaz