Say govt not serious about promoting Jammu
The All Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association (AJHLA) boycotted today’s pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, blaming the BJP-PDP Government of step motherly treatment.
The association said despite assurances, not even a single benefit had been given to Jammu hotels since they was declared an industry under the Industrial Policy 1995.
Inderjeet Khajuria, president of AJHLA, said the hotel industry was fed up of the hollow promises made by the government, which allegedly had no intentions to bring Jammu region on the tourist map.
“Places such as Bhaderwah, Patnitop and Banihal have so much potential to become great tourist destinations but are being ignored by the successive governments,” Khajuria claimed.
“If there is no Secretariat move to the winter capital, the hotels would have been empty. The rooms are booked only because the employees working in the Secretariat are staying here or due to arrival of their relatives/friends to visit them. Otherwise, there is no tourist arrival in Jammu,” Khajuria said.
He said the seriousness on part of the government could be gauged from the fact that none of the project announced by the government had been completed. “After announcing a new project, its cancellation has become a routine now, with the government citing various reasons. We have now decided to launch an agitation to force the government to take up the artificial lake project as no more injustice will be tolerated,” Khajuria maintained.
“Ever since hotels were declared an industry under the Industrial Policy 1995, we have not been given any concession in terms of electricity bills, compounding the miseries of hotel owners of Jammu,” he added.
