Srinagar, December 22: The Hoteliers Club J&K met with Chief Secretary J&K Atal Dulloo on Friday and presented him with a list of requests that, in the Club’s opinion, are severe and need the prompt attention of higher authorities in order to be resolved.
While outlining the problems, Mentor Hoteliers Club J&K Mushtaq Chaya brought to the Chief Secretary’s attention a number of issues that need priority attention at your level. These issues include registrations of hotels and restaurants that are already established at various tourist destinations; permits for repairs and renovations of existing properties; promotion of tourism throughout the nation; industrial incentives for the service sector and hotel industry; and preference for local entrepreneurs when starting new projects.
“Tourism is fragile if timely and much-needed attention is not given, but it also has the greatest potential to provide jobs for millions of people—educated and illiterate, craftsmen, transporters, manufacturers, and everyone else. Peace is also a prerequisite for tourism, which has historically suffered greatly. The central and state governments’ prompt steps and efforts have resulted in a return to calm and a significant increase in tourism. As a consequence, both domestic and international visitors have been flocking to the tourist destinations, and pilgrimage travel is seeing a notable upsurge,” the document states.
The text says, “With this serene environment, the people of Jammu and Kashmir are now solely engaged in developmental activities, which are at their pinnacle right now and require additional nourishment from your august hands.” Sir, the government’s efforts will only yield results if popular tourist spots have contemporary amenities and infrastructure. In addition to building infrastructure at these tourist attractions that meets world-class standards and meets demand, it is necessary to renovate the aging infrastructure that is now in very poor shape to give it an attractive appearance.
“We are happy that, thanks to the capable leadership of our Prime Minister, we were able to go on the moon and modernize almost every aspect of national life, but our state is falling behind. In our most well-known tourist locations, we are unable to get approval for anything, not even facelifting, renovations, repairs, paint jobs, or replacing our existing homes’ rusted GC sheets or snow-damaged roofs. Due to the current situation, indifference, and unfavorable attitude, the status of the existing properties has deteriorated greatly. In many regions of the nation, a single-window system has been crucial to the development of infrastructure. However, in our state, obtaining approvals and sanctions requires a one-stop-shop approach. Even the properties that are legally permitted to be used for commercial purposes after construction are deteriorating since the registrations have been sitting for years. The report said that “the entrepreneurs who have invested a significant portion of their lives, earnings, loans, etc. obtained from financial institutions on such constructions are becoming more and more mired in difficulties every day when there aren’t the commercial operations and returns they were anticipating.”
It continues, “The Government of India has announced and promulgated various time-bound schemes and incentives to benefit the existing infrastructure and to pave the way for investors to set up their employment-generating units and projects in order to revive the industrial sector, which includes tourism in the UT. The programs explicitly provide direct advantages to the entrepreneurs in the form of tax and bank interest subsidies, but the lengthy and difficult application procedure prevents the beneficiaries from being able to take advantage of the benefits. After projects are completed, the respective departments’ registrations become susceptible, and lawsuits have been lingering for a while for various reasons. This requires urgent action at your level, sir, so that businesses may take advantage of government plans and profit within the allotted time frames.”
In order to alleviate poverty and promote the overall development of the state, the government’s policy is to invite investors to establish projects in the manufacturing, horticulture, agriculture, and tourism sectors, among other sectors. While we appreciate this initiative, local entrepreneurs possessing the necessary resources and know-how should be given priority when setting up such projects in the state. We need your assistance, sir, to ensure that the government’s programs are monitored and implemented at all levels in a way that prevents benefits from being denied because of a delay in case resolution in order to get 100% results from the programs it occasionally introduces for the improvement and development of the state’s citizens,” the statement continued.
