Savita Kumari
Port Blair, Jul 07: Mr. Sanjay Chowdhury, President of Hotel & Restaurant Association of Andaman & Nicobar Islands has highlighted the problems being faced by Hotel Industry in Andamans, infront of the Prime Minister of India.
“All businessmen are aware of the steps the government is taking to protect precious human lives along with saving the vast population from the crisis of survival. The Union Territory is directly administered by the central government (Ministry of Home). This set up is a privilege to us as our issues are directly addressed to the central government”, he added in his letter addressed to the PM.
The President, HRA further pointed out that today the Hotel Industry of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have a feeling of isolation, must be for a reason that the country is pre engaged in facing and handling the pandemic. But at the same time people are struggling to earn our bread and survive.
The President, HRA mentioned that a good number of young entrepreneurs have availed loans to build hotels of different categories in Port Blair and other parts of the Islands. During 2020 the government extended a moratorium on the loans for 6 months but the arrival of the second wave did not allow anyone to recover from the crises.
He requested further moratorium for all the pending loans and a relief by exempting the interest on the loans, finance availed for the period involving lockdown either by the central government or the administration.
“The government may come out with budgetary provisions to meet the said relief and pay to the banks in return. For the small loans the total amount and for higher loans a maximum limit may be decided by the government,” he added.
Mr. Chowdhury further added that all loans including those, which became bad or non-performing assets may be restructured with fresh repayment schedules and options.
“Hundreds of unemployed youths have purchased tourist transport vehicles, tourist boats under different schemes of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Khadi Gram Udyog etc. These beneficiaries are struggling to survive. To save them similar steps to exempt interest, rescheduling the loans can be initiated to revive the sector,” Mr. Chowdhury pointed out.
“Port charges or any other charges taken by the port management board, applicable to the small boats, water sports boats, cruise boats etc may be exempted for the total lockdown period and the unavoidable expenses, mainly the water and electricity charges of the hotels and restaurants may be exempted for the period of lockdown declared either by the central government or administration by making budget provision for the same” the President HRA added.
He further pointed out that the property tax on the hotels and restaurants may be exempted for the year 2020& 2021( 2 years). The calculation of tax is linked with the value of the property having no concern with the income.
“The government is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that the maximum population of the country is vaccinated. This is more important for the islands as the total economy is dependent on tourism, thus vaccination will protect the people involved and also increase the confidence of the tourists visiting the islands. I request and suggest that a special vaccination drive may be arranged for the islands so that by September or before Dussehra (Beginning of tourist season) total population may be vaccinated and the islands may be called “VACCINATED DESTINATION” and on the spot registration should be in place along with online registration throughout the islands considering the poor internet connectivity”, Mr. Chowdhury added to his letter.
He also pointed out that Medical experts, Pandemic experts and public health specialists may be roped into managing the pandemic with micro planning and to strengthen the present team in the field. This will help the islands to reopen at the earliest without much health risks to the visiting tourists; many states in the country have already declared tourism as an industry so that this sector can be treated as a priority in terms of various areas like charges, taxes, sanctioning finance and many more.
“Tourism may be declared as an industry in the islands and all benefits as applicable to the MSME sector may be extended to the tourism sector too and Charges/entry fees etc for different tourist spots should be unchanged considering the pandemic situation. Regular flights should be allowed to operate with passengers carrying negative Covid test reports and conducting mandatory Covid tests on arrival at Veer Savarkar International airport and also this is a common practice of the airlines that whenever there is a rush, the airfare is increased to an exorbitant price which results in a drop of tourist inflow. I request that a maximum fare cap must be fixed for all the airlines operating from different sectors in different periods. And the Central government along with different state governments should plan a publicity campaign to promote the islands tourism through electronic media, print media, and participation in fairs, marts and road shows considering the field situation of the pandemic,” he further added.
