No hike in stall allocation fee for vendors

Tribune News Service

Kullu, October 2

To promote the Kullu shawl and local dishes of the district during the International Kullu Dasehra festival, this year the district administration will not hike the rental fee for plots at the historical Dhalpur Ground, where vendors install temporary shops till October 31 each year during that event.

To meet the expenditure of Dasehra, the district administration had been hiking 10 per cent fee each year for plot allocation at the Dhalpur Ground in Kullu for the past many years, which got criticism from the business community as well as from local residents.

The district was known for producing the traditional Kullu shawl and the Kullvi cap, besides a lot of local cuisines, in which the weaver section and women folk were involved directly. They worked in traditional handloom to prepare the Kullu shawl and run stalls of local dishes to sustain their economy. The cut-throat competition was posing a threat to the Kullu handloom industry as power-loom shawls were affecting the weaver section in the district. Talking to The Tribune here today, DC Yunus Khan said, “To promote traditional Kullu shawl, cap and local dishes during the festival, I have decided to charge the amount of plot as per the previous year and there would be no hike for them this year, especially for those who were involved in this trade in the district.”

He said the main focus would be on promoting handicraft, local dishes and culture during the event and plots would be provided to them on reasonable rates. According to sources, subletting of plots worsen the situation every year, where influential people of the town buy these at cheaper rates from the district administration and then sublet it on higher rates to businessmen coming from various parts of Himachal and outside the state.

The DC said the district administration would keep a close vigil over subletting plots.