Kabaddi cup: Hotels yet to be paid Rs 60.66 lakh

BATHINDA: Owners of hotels in the district are repenting for hosting international teams and guests of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup as even after eight months of the tournament, organised during the SAD-BJP government, their bills have not been cleared yet by the Sports Department.

Hotels owners show a list of the pending bills of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup during a press conference in Bathinda on Friday. Tribune photo: Pawan sharma

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 18

Owners of hotels in the district are repenting for hosting international teams and guests of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup as even after eight months of the tournament, organised during the SAD-BJP government, their bills have not been cleared yet by the Sports Department.

Earlier, more than Rs 80 lakh of eight big hotels was outstanding against the Sports Department.

President of the Punjab Hotel Association, Satish Arora, said after the association raised its demand for clearing the dues, partial payment was made by the administration.

“After more than five months since we hosted the guests and players, only a part of the payment was cleared.”

The hotels that await payment include Country Inn, Comfort Inn, Sunciti Classic, Sun Citi, Sepal, Krishna Continental, Bahia Fort and Stella.

Arora said they had met officials of the Sports Department many times but the dues had not been cleared till date.

He added that a deputation of the hotel association had met Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra, who had also assured that the payment would be released soon.

Hoteliers today threatened that in case the state government failed to clear the payment within the next 15 days, the association would be left with no option but to knock the door of the court.

“If we don’t pay taxes on time, we are penalised. We have already paid the taxes, which are around 20 per cent of the total amount pending with the administration. Why hasn’t the government release our money,” the hoteliers questioned.

Even during earlier editions of the Kabaddi World Cup, they had to protest for getting their dues.

Pending payment of hotels