Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 1: Jammu Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Association (JHRBA) has appealed the Government to quarantine the air passengers in Jammu hotels instead of Katra.
“The hotels in Jammu have been closed for the last more than two months due to the ongoing Corona pandemic. On 22nd of May, the hotels were asked by the district administration and tourism department to gear up to receive the passengers who will be compulsorily quarantined for a few days till the test results come out,” said JHRBA president Raju Chowdhary.
He said most of the hotels were lying closed and at the behest of the administration, urgent measures were taken and the hotels were hurriedly brought back to working conditions after spending lot of money to ensure in place all mandatory protocols but to their utter shock, the passengers instead of coming to hotels in Jammu were diverted by the administration to Katra.
Chowdhary said now they are being told that Katra is the quarantine centre for all the air passengers. He said this will cause great inconvenience to the passengers and also leave the hotels, who geared up to receive these passengers on administration’s behest, in lurch. He appealed the Government to first fill up Jammu hotels and the overflow could be sent to Katra.
The JHRBA president also urged upon the Government to defer all statutory liabilities, including EMIs, to a minimum of 12 months and waiver of interest for the same period for the Hospitality industry. He also asserted for subsidizing employment for six months by the Government, contributing 50% of the salary per employee, suspending Excise fees, property taxes as well as municipal till the end of COVID-19 period and charging utility costs such as electricity at actual consumption and waiving of minimum charges.
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