Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 30: All Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association has demanded financial package for the hotel industry, which was severely hit by the Covid pandemic.
In a meeting of office bearers of the Association, held here today, the AJHLA chairman, Inderjeet Khajuria expressed resentment over showing step motherly treatment by the Government towards tourism sector, particularly hotel industry.
“Despite suffering huge losses due to Covid pandemic coupled with lockdowns, the hotel industry has not received any support from the Government,” he said.
Pawan Gupta, president of the Association, expressed serious concern over the deteriorating conditions of Jammu hoteliers who were severely hit by the attack of two waves of COVID-19 and are unable to bear the burden of third wave plus the load of lockdowns.
“So far as the hotel industry is concerned, lockdowns being imposed now-a-days are not weekend but weeklong for hotel industry inviting cancellation of bookings and affecting single digit occupancy to zero and causing a lot of hardships to stakeholders for earning their livelihood,” he said and appealed to the Government to save this starving industry by giving a financial package to budget hotel industry and exempt it from all Government charges, viz, electricity, water, municipal charges till Jammu and Kashmir becomes Covid free.
The Association pointed out that during first wave of Covid pandemic, hotel industry was given meager exemption in water and fixed electricity charges but no relief was given during second and third wave of pandemic.
Other office bearers present in the meeting, included M L Sharma, Pritam Sharma, Anil Khajuria, H S Manhas, Baldev Raj, Sunil Suri, Swarn Singh, Sankul Gupta, Manpreet Singh, Varun Gupta and Nishant Gupta.
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