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| Where will tourists stay? Sanu ki! | | As tourism season begins in Valley, top mantris, babus occupy deluxe cottages at Chashma Shahi | | Bashir Assad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, May 10: The picturesque Chashma Shahi, which should ideally house tourists and generate handsome revenue for the government, is presently occupied by government functionaries.
The irony is that even ministers who are supposed to be available to the people to address their day-to-day problems are also camping in the plush Chashma Shahi cottages, completely inaccessible to the electorate.
This is primarily because Chashma Shahi is a place where the common man cannot have easy access to a minister or senior bureaucrats. It is a restricted area maintained by the Tourism Development Corporation.
During the Omar Abdullah government, many PDP legislators had agitated vociferously in the Legislature on the issue of providing residential accommodation to government functionaries in the deluxe Chashma Shahi cottages. It was in this backdrop that Committee on Public Undertakings in 2013 recommended vacation of huts by the government functionaries to make them available to tourists.
However, ignoring the recommendations, the government has once again given the huts not only to top bureaucrats but very astoundingly to the ministers, causing huge losses to the state exchequer.
After coming to power, the PDP legislators, who are now ministers, have promptly forgotten their stand on the issue. The cottages were earlier occupied by top babus only. Now, for the first time, even the ministers have occupied the same cottages as a matter of right.
The government justifies the issue of ministers occupying the cottages at Chashma Shahi on the pretext of the devastating damage caused by the flood in September 2014.
However, officials of the Estate department reveal that the ministers could have easily occupied the state guest house in Church Lane, Sonwar. This would have ensured that the public representatives were available to the electorate.
Sources reveal that in brazen violation of the directions of the Legislative Committee, the Estates department ordered 30 Chashma Shahi cottages and 11 Pari Mahal cottages to be given for the use of two senior ministers, and 35 civil and police administration officers.
J&K Finance Minister Haseeb A Drabu and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar have been allotted huts in Chashma Shahi. The officers who have been allocated official accommodation in these cottages include Special Secretary Forest (Technical) Shally Ranjan, Director Forest Protection Force Suresh Kumar Gupta, Civil Aviation pilot G Mamgain, ADGP Police Housing Corporation Dilbagh Singh, Principal Secretary to CM BB Vyas, and Chief General Manager BSNL, J&K. These cottages are owned by J&K Tourism Development Corporation.
"The J&K Tourism Development Corporation can earn crores per season if the cottages located at these picturesque meadows are opened for tourists. The government must create alternate accommodation for the ministers and bureaucrats to save its own company, JKTDC, from losses," said an officer in the Tourism department.
The officer revealed that a 2 BHK cottage at Chashma Shahi costs Rs 9,000 per night, while as 1 BHK cottage costs Rs 7,000 per night. These cottages offer an experience which is much more beautiful than staying in a five-star hotel.
Sources maintain that from May to October, these huts can be rented out each day. Each 2 BHK cottage would fetch JKTDC Rs 2.70 lakh a month and Rs 16 lakh for the whole season. If all 41 huts which are currently given to the Estates department are rented out to tourists, it would fetch JKTDC over Rs 6 crore in the next six months. |
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