Monday, March 19, 2012

67 JKTDC huts located at Cheshmashahi occupied by VIPs

Only one hut kept for tourists' on-line booking
67 JKTDC huts located at Cheshmashahi occupied by VIPs


Even as the Jammu Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation is losing revenue worth crores every year, nearly 67 of its huts located at prime locations of Cheshmashahi and Pari Mahal, near Dal lake in Srinagar (Kashmir) are occupied by VIPs including bureaucrats and a few legislators.

Raising this issue in the Upper House today, PDP members Mohd Ashraf Mir and Murtaza Khan pointed out that JKTDC whose financial condition was already not good has been let to suffer huge loss as its beautiful huts, located at prime locations of Srinagar city have been occupied by bureaucrats. Lakhs of tourists who visit Kashmir every year have been denied this facility despite the fact that these huts were raised for them.

Mr Khan asked if militancy was the reason to accommodate these people in such huts, what steps were taken by the Government in last three years to arrange alternative accommodation for them and before militancy, where were they accommodated. Whether Government intended to get these huts vacated and when, he asked.

Giving reply, Minister in charge Tourism Nawang Rigzin Jora said the JKTDC has 45 huts available at Cheshmashahi and 22 at Pari Mahal in Srinagar. During summer (May-Oct 2011), 46 huts were with Estates, 19 Home Department, one with J&K Bank while only one was kept for the online booking/ reservation of tourists. During winters, out of the total, 40 huts are kept for tourists reservation. In response to a question the Minister said that JKTDC is getting revenue from the concerned departments and it generated revenue of ` 2.95 crore during 2010-11 and till January 2012 this year nearly ` 2.34 crore. He said due to militancy and security threat, these officials were accommodated there and now Government was planning to raise alternative accommodation for them.

Mr Jora provided the list of occupants of huts at Cheshmashahi and Pari-Mahal. They included BJP MLA Ashok Khajuria, MLC BR Kundal, Gopal Reddy ADG Security, Alok Puri DIG Adm (PHQ), Tashi Dorjay Secy ARI/Trg, R Monga Pilot State Civil Aviation, Retd Justice and member SAC M L Koul, G Mamgain Pilot Civil Aviation, Himanshi Pilot Civil Aviation, Deepak Khanna IFS/CCF Eco Tourism, Irshad Ahmed Khan, PCCF, S P Ved ADG, Commissioner/ Secretary Sudhanshu Panday, R L Bhat Member PSC, K B Aggarwal Principal Secretary, Atul Dulloo Commissioner/ Secy, Manoj Kumnar Dwivedi Secretary S&T. Pritam Chand IFS, A K Tiku Chief Warden, J P Singh IPS Director SSG, Ashok Kumar Atri, Suresh Kumar Pr Secy Housing, B B Vyas Pr Secy to CM, B R Sharma Pr Secy Home, Justice Retd G D Sharma/ President CDRC, V S Swalkar Pilot Civil Aviation, R D Tiwari IFS, Umang Narula Commissioner/ Secy, Navin Aggrawal IPS, Vinod Koul/ Relief Commissioner, Ram Lubhaya ADG Home, Parmod Jain, F C Revenue, R K Jerath IAS, Shaleen Kabra MD JKPDC, R K Koul CGM BSNL, H L Goswami Member PSC, Jalil Ahmed Khan Eco Advisor, P L Gupta Commissioner Vigilance, Jeet Lal Gupta Commissioner / Secy, K B Jandial Member PSC and Arvinder Singh Micky. Three huts were reserved for Estates guests, one for Intelligence Bureau, three for High Court Judges one for JK Bank and one for Commissioner Bureau. Five huts were with Raj Bhawan staff, one for Dy Director IB, two for BSF, four for NSG staff and seven others for Governor's staff. Total 19 were under Home Department.

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