PSPCL’s tariff anomaly irks Gurdaspur hoteliers

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, November 6

Local hoteliers have been hit hard by the PSPCL’s decision to charge power tariff at commercial instead of industrial rates.

Hoteliers claim that the PSPCL is not following a May 5, 2003, a Punjab Government notification stating that “power tariff on hotels, restaurants and motels will be calculated at industrial rates and not on commercial basis”.

“We have petitioned PSPCL officials on numerous occasions reminding them of the notification which declares hotels as industries. The power utility should not only charge us industrial rates, but it should also reimburse us for the extra money charged since 2003,” said Romesh Mahajan, president of the Gurdaspur District Hotel Association. He added that the hotel occupancy had dropped to just 5 per cent.

“Before the Amritsar-Pathankot bypass was constructed in 2014, the occupancy touched 70-80 per cent. Pilgrims travelling from Amritsar to Vaishno Devi used to halt in Gurdaspur because it was considered to be a halfway point. Likewise, tourists travelling to the Attari border from J&K and HP passed through the city boosting the town’s micro-economy. I agree that the construction of the bypass had become a necessity and actually was the need of the hour but then somebody should listen to us too. The NH-15 has doomed us,” he added.