Kasauli hotels see limited occupancy, new ones mushroom

Hotels in in the Kasauli Planning Area (KPA) are seeing limited occupancy but a number of new palatial tourism projects are coming up there.

The KPA comprises Kasauli town and 35 villages within its 10-km periphery. Besides existing hotels, one can see a plethora of new projects coming up along all major roads, including the Dharampur-Mangoti Mor-Kasauli, Kimmughat-Chakki Mor and Garkhal-Chabal roads.

The roads have been bursting at the seams due to the steep rise in the number of vehicles, besides every conceivable patch of land is being transformed into a tourist unit.

Even as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has capped the height of buildings to two-and-a-half floors in October 2018, many projects, which had got permission earlier, have been constructed with more floors.

Though the area is highly prone to seismic activity, villages situated on the fringes of the planning area have also witnessed construction of up to seven-storey buildings.

Expressing their concern over the situation, the Kasauli hoteliers are seeking a ban on the essentiality certificates (ECs).

“The Tourism Department should put the ECs for the tourism units on hold in the KPA till civic amenities are expanded as adding more units will render the existing non-feasible,” opined Rocky Chimni, vice-president of Kasauli Residents Welfare and Hoteliers Association.

He said in bigger hotels, the usual occupancy of 65 to 70 per cent has come down to less than 50 per cent and small to medium hotels were running on a meagre 25 to 30 per cent occupancy.

Around 50 new tourism projects were coming up on the 8-km narrow stretch of Dharampur-Kasauli road, where even the parapets have been encroached upon, besides there was little adherence to leaving the mandatory 3.5 m acquired width of the road by the realtors.

The state government has a policy of not refusing ECs, which is the first step to seeking permission for a tourism unit. There was an urgent need to review this policy, said other hoteliers.