Tourists being ‘looted’ openly at behest of Municipal Committees in Valley

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 25: Large number of tourists from within and outside the country visiting different parts of the Kashmir valley are being ‘looted’ openly by the private contractors at the behest of the Municipal Committees.
These contractors to whom the Urban Local Bodies Department has outsourced the “Entry Fee” collection task through the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies, Kashmir have not only been harassing the tourists but also sending wrong impression about the much talked about hospitality of the Kashmir valley.
There are a total of 40 Municipal Committees and three Municipal Councils across the Kashmir valley and almost all these Urban Local Bodies have been collecting “Entry Fee” from the visitors through the private contractors for merely entering their jurisdictions.
“The rate of Entry Fee being charged by the private contractors at the behest of Municipal Committees varies from area to area”, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “moreover, at several places the tourists are being compelled to pay Entry Fee for the Municipal Committee as well as development charges for the Tourism Development Authority”.
This can be gauged from the fact that Municipal Committee of Tangmarg collects Rs 30 per vehicle as Entry Fee and then Gulmarg Development Authority charges money from every vehicle.
However, the rate of Entry Fee being charged by the private contractors at behest of Municipal Committee of Ganderbal is higher than the Municipal Committee of Tangmarg. The ‘authorised’ contractor of the Ganderbal Municipal Committee collects Rs 40 per vehicle.
Another astonishing fact is that Municipal Committee of Ganderbal charges “Entry Fee” for whole day while as Municipal Committee of Tangmarg collects “Entry Fee” for per trip which means if a vehicle crosses Tangmarg twice a day its operator will have to pay Entry Fee twice.
While charging “Entry Fee”, the private contractors even use flithy language against the tourists whenever they dare to pose any question  about the justification behind ‘looting’ them. “This is mainly because of the fact that those at the helm of affairs in these Municipal Committees don’t bother to see whether the private contractors are behaving properly with the tourists while collecting Entry Fee”, sources said, adding “in this way these private contractors are giving wrong impression to the tourists about Kashmir valley and its people, who are otherwise known for hospitality”.
As far as Jammu province is concerned, there are 33 Municipal Committees and only few of them are charging “Entry Fee”. “Unlike Municipal Committees of Kashmir valley, these few Urban Local Bodies of Jammu region don’t charge from the private vehicles and collecting “Entry Fee” only from the commercial vehicles”, sources said.
For example, Municipal Committee of Katra, the base camp of cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi which is visited by more than one crore pilgrims every year, is collecting “Entry Tax” only from the commercial vehicles and the private vehicles are not charged.
When contacted, Director Urban Local Bodies, Kashmir, Hilal Ahmed Parrey said, “Entry Fee is basically the source of sustenance for the Municipal Committees, which have outsourced the exercise to the private contractors”.
In reply to a question, “the money being generated through Entry Fee is used for the developmental activities as well as meeting the salary component of the staff of these Municipal Committees”.
When asked about harassment being meted out to the tourists at the hands of private contractors engaged by the Municipal Committees and justification behind charging Entry Fee from the private vehicles, the Director Urban Local Bodies, Kashmir preferred to remain mum for a while and then he disconnected the telephone not to be picked up again.
According to the sources, the Urban Local Bodies Department has not framed any uniform policy about collection of taxes by the Municipal Committees and harassment of private contractors and varing rates of Entry Fee are the outcome of the same.

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