Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 1: Many Government officers were occupying JKTDC huts located at Cheshmashahi in Srinagar and they have not vacated the accommodation for the last many years.
This was admitted by the Minister for Tourism, Ghulam Ahmed Mir while replying to the question of Congress legislator Ghulam Ahmed Monga in the Upper House today. Mr Monga asked how many Government huts have been got vacated in the Cheshmashahi area and what action has been taken so far in this regard in view of the heavy rush of tourists last year.
Though the Minister failed to satisfy the member and the House in his reply and give the number of the huts being used or vacated during Darbar move by officers, he assured to get the details of the number and take appropriate action in this regard. He said no hut being used by senior Government officers at Cheshmashai has been got vacated in last few years. However, some huts are being vacated by the Move officers after Darbar moves to Jammu. These huts are then put on line for booking on JKTDC site for tourists/ guests.
Replying to another question, the Tourism Minister admitted that even some of the officers are not eligible for this special accommodation and he will definitely look into the matter and get these huts vacated for the tourists. He said steps have been initiated by the Estates Department to construct residential quarters at Nishat and Brein to accommodate the officers presently putting up at Cheshmashahi huts. When the accommodation is made available, they will be shifted there, Mir maintained.
Replying to another question of NC member Dr Shahnaz Ganei, Mr Mir said that 21 TRCs, 24 restaurants and 34 cafeterias have been constructed during the last five years. He said besides undertaking renovation work of eight TRCs and 14 restaurants, the work is in progress on 15 TRCs, four restaurants and nine cafeterias across the State.
The Minister disclosed that 7751 rooms per day were available in category A and Delux category in Kashmir division for the tourists. Replying to another question of Dr Ganei, Mr Mir said total 910 House Boats, comprising of 2349 rooms and 4698 beds were also available at Dal, Nagin, river and Tchuntikul in Deluxe, A, B, C and D categories. The total number of registered hotels in Srinagar were 372, having 10785 rooms and 21073 beds, Mr Mir added.
Other members including Subash Gupta, Ajatshtru Singh, Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardy, Naresh Gupta and Jehangir Mir also raised some supplementary questions which were ably replied by the minister. He said peace in the State was must to attract foreign tourists and department was putting all efforts to promote tourism.
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