Srinagar, Apr 3: A high level delegation of Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHARA) led by its president Siraj Ahmad today had a joint meeting with Minister for Environment and Forests, Mian Altaf and Minister for Tourism, Nawang Rigzin Jora. The delegation apprised the ministers about the problems they “are facing in getting registrations and renewals from the Pollution Control Board.”
 Senior officials of the PCB including chairman PCB and member-secretary PCB were present in the meeting. Besides, senior officials of Tourism Department were present in the meeting. The delegation complained against the high tariff structure “unilaterally fixed by the PCB.”
 “We are aggrieved of the high registration fee fixed by the PCB. We want complete rationalization in the tariff structure. The tariff should be charged according to category of the hotels,” the delegation said. The Minister for Forest appreciating the problems of the delegation, ordered for fixing the upper limit of registration fee at Rs 5000, president KHARA told Greater Kashmir on phone from Jammu.
 He said the delegation was assured by the minister that rationalization of tariffs as per the categories A, B, C, and D of the hotels would be considered. The delegation also demanded that the KHARA should be made a member to the PCB. “We were assured in the meeting that our plea would be considered,” he said. The delegation also stressed the need for conserving the forests in J&K. “We assure our complete cooperation to the government and urge the authorities to remove encroachments from the forests,” the delegation said.
 The delegation also stressed the need for creating infrastructure in terms of drainage and sewerage in Srinagar city by the government. Besides its president, the KHARA delegation comprised of its members including Dr. Abdul Majeed, Haji Noor Muhammad And Adil Khan.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST