Now, Kasauli hoteliers’ turn to face the music

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 25

With the High Court striking down amendments to the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act regularising illegal constructions, hoteliers and owners of such commercial establishments are in for trouble.

Kasauli is among the areas witnessing large-scale flagrant violations of the TCP norms.

Hotels have come up at every nook and corner in the area. Apart from raising additional floors, violators have constructed hotels without seeking permission from the authorities concerned.

Unmindful of the impact which such constructions pose to the environment, builders have raised high-rise structures without undertaking any environmental protection measure.

A majority of such builders have not sought permission from the State Pollution Control Board and hence no measures have been undertaken to mitigate the impact of environmental degradation.

Violations have been detected in at least 12 hotels in Kasauli. The failure of the regulatory agencies to enforce the law forcefully has emboldened such builders to indulge in violations with impunity.

Despite facing revenue losses, officials of the Excise and Taxation Department are charging luxury tax from unregistered hotels. A case of a multi-storey hotel located on the Dharampur-Kasauli road is an illustration of the fact where despite the Tourism Department having refused to register a hotel as it lacked an NOC from the TCP Department, the Excise and Taxation Department is charging tax on a flat basis rather than on a per-room basis, causing loss to the state exchequer.

With as many as five to seven storeys having been constructed as against the permissible three-plus one, these commercial constructions illustrate an abject lack of regulation by the TCP Department.

An official of the department said several retention and regularisation policies introduced by successive governments had emboldened the builders and it had become difficult to regulate violations.

Flouting norms with impunity

• Hotels have come up at every nook and corner in the area. Apart from raising additional floors, violators have constructed hotels without seeking permission from the authorities concerned
• Unmindful of the impact which such constructions pose to the environment, builders have raised high-rise structures without undertaking any environmental protection measure 
• A majority of such builders have not sought permission from the State Pollution Control Board and hence no measures have been undertaken to mitigate the impact of environmental degradation