36 hotels sealed in Kasol, Tosh, Katagla

Abhinav Vashisht

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Kasol (Kullu), June 26

Acting on the directions of the High Court, three teams, under the supervision of Amit Guleria, SDM, Kullu, sealed 36 of the 48 illegal hotels and guest houses at Kasol, Tosh and Katagla in a day-long exercise on Tuesday. The drive passed off peacefully.

Eleven of the hotels escaped action as their owners had completed the formalities and submitted the documents to officials. One guest house has already been closed.

The drive carried on through the day with the officials taking only a 45-minute break for lunch around 3.30 pm. It was a little after 5.30 pm that the three teams completed their task and returned. Some hotel owners complained that they were not given notices and threatened to seek legal recourse.

“We appreciate the owners who have pulled down the illegal portions of their properties on their own. This has sent a positive signal,” said Guleria. After razing the illegal portions, the demarcation would be done and the report be submitted to the High Court to pave the way for their opening. He said two reports had been submitted to the High Court, the third would be ready for submission within fortnight.

Each of the three teams was accompanied by 22 police personnel, besides a reserve of 30 persons to tackle any eventuality. The administration had taken necessary precautions to avert any untoward incident. The May 1 Kasauli shooting incident, where Shail Bala, Assistant Town Planner, was shot dead by a hotelier during the demolition drive, was still fresh in everyone’s memory.

Leading the team in Kasol, Guleria and Ashish Sharma, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kullu, started the drive from multi-storeyed Teji’s Guest House at 10.30 am. They were accompanied by officials from Tourism, Revenue, Forest, Electricity, the State Pollution Control Board and Town and Country Planning departments. “I have not been issued any notice and the land on which our property stands was given to us by the government as Nautor land so we are in no way to be blamed,” said Chetan Thakur, son of the owner of Teji’s Guest House.

11 complete papers, escape action 

• Of the 48 hotels, 11 escaped action as their owners had completed the formalities and submitted the documents to officials. One guest house has already been closed.
• The drive, carried on through the day with the officials taking only 45-minute break for lunch, passed off peacefully.
• Some hotel owners complained that they were not given notices and threatened to seek legal recourse. 
• After razing the illegal portions, the demarcation would be done and the report be submitted to the HC to pave the way for their opening.