YHAI mulls constructing youth hostels in J-K

Vikas Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 23

To strengthen its infrastructure, the state branch of the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI) is likely to meet Chief Minister and submit a proposal for construction of youth hostels in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pertinently, the state wing of the association had also taken the matter with former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad but did not achieve any success.

YHAI State Secretary Dr Taran Singh told The Tribune that the state branch has decided to start four new licensee youth hostels at Jammu, Sanasar, Mantalai and Udhampur during a recently held meeting of the association’s state council under the chairmanship YHAI national president MS Pandit.

“We are planning to approach the Chief Minister and apprise him about the ambitious project to construct our own youth hostels,” said Dr Taran Singh.

He, however, said the site for construction of these hostels was yet to be finalised.

“The J&K State Branch of the YHAI will certainly help the YHAI members across the country and abroad to enjoy all the facilities including mess and accommodation at rates fixed by the YHAI national body,” Dr Singh maintained.

“There is no dearth of tourist destinations in J&K. If we have our own youth hostels then it will be really beneficial for us to accommodate our members across the globe by providing them all necessary facilities,” he said.

The YHAI is an associate member of Hostelling International having a network of more than 4,000 youth hostels across 90 countries and a membership count of more than 4.5 million people.

The YHAI currently has more than 70 youth hostels spread across 23 states of India and in order to expand its network of hostels the association has come up with the scheme of Licensee Youth Hostels. The scheme enables hotels and guest houses to affiliate with the YHAI.

The state wing of the association has four branch units under it and six youth hostels, which are monitored in coordination with the national office.