One State and one administration but two different and varying rules for Municipal Committees in two regions of Kashmir and Jammu is the sordid ground situation. Not only are the standing rules of Entry Taxes of private vehicles to tourist arenas diametrically opposed to each other in Jammu and Kashmir, even in the valley itself these rules vary from one municipal committee to another. Entry Taxes charged by Ganderbal Municipal Committee are higher than those charged by Tangmarg Municipal Committee. Moreover in Kashmir, Development Authorities are charging separate Entry Taxes in addition to those charged by the Municipal Committees.
This has happened because collection of Entry Taxes has been outsourced by the Urban Local Bodies, Kashmir, to private contractors who, perhaps, are not accountable to anybody. They would not hesitate from fleecing the tourists, over-charging and then misbehaving with them. They are given the impression that for their resources Municipal Committees depend exclusively on the revenues from Entry Tax. In other words, it means they want to have the freedom of fleecing the tourists.
The Government must take up the issue immediately and with all urgency. Rules of Entry Taxes to tourist/cultural destinations should be uniform throughout the State. Its outsourcing should be immediately stopped and the Local Urban Bodies should make it their exclusive duty to collect the taxes. Secondly, the Tourism Department should register cases of misbehavior if complaints are lodged by the tourists against the agents and legal action should be taken. This has to be transparent so that credibility of the tourism organization is re-established. Tourism authorities know very well that inability to control misbehavior and mismanagement of affairs will adversely affect the industry. There are many more tourist destinations in the country and Kashmir is not the only one.
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