Police deployed at Kasol during the sealing drive on Tuesday. Ashwani Sharma
A group of foreign tourists, around 13 to 14 from France and Israel, who had checked in at Teji Paying Guest House on Monday night, were told to pack up in five minutes and vacate the premises after Kullu administration’s biggest sealing operation for 37 illegal hotels took off on Tuesday morning in the tourist hub, 37 kms from Bhunter.
Kasol, of late, has emerged as a favourite destination for foreign tourists, students and youngsters. It’s located in the Manikaran valley, also infamous for drugs.
The crackdown against the hotels progressed as per plans amid tight security, with armed police teams escorting officials everywhere they went.
Teji Paying Guest House, located in the lush green apple orchard on the banks of Parvati, was the first in the list in the sealing drive that began early this morning as per Himachal Pradesh High Court orders. The arrival of the 12-member team led by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Kullu, Dr Amit Sharma, at the resort owned by Raj Kumari was no surprise to the foreigners lodged there.
“Well, the promoters did tell us last night about chances of property being locked out on Tuesday morning. In my view, if the guest house has no statutory approvals for commercial activities, they have no right to operate. We will find another hotel. But I am told all hotels at Kasol are not legal,” Olivai, a French tourist, said.
Unlike Kasauli, where the demolition drive against illegal hotels led to a shooting incident involving hotelier Vijay Singh and death of Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Shail Bala Sharma, the operation at Kasol went on without much resistance. In fact, some of the owners of illegal hotels, resorts, restaurants and commercial establishments had already taken up demolition of illegal portions themselves to avoid sealing. The teams sealed almost every room of the illegally run hotels.
In all, there were three teams in action at four different places, including Kasol, where 16 hotels and restaurants were picked up for sealing, besides simultaneous disconnection of power and water supplies. Katagla and Chalal had 11 and Tosh, a small hamlet way ahead Manikaran, had 10 illegal hotels running there.
“The arrangements were perfect, due to lessons learnt from the Kasauli demolition drive. Initially, a team led by SDM Kullu had identified 48 hotels and restaurants, which were either on the forest land or operating without necessary clearances. Eleven of them had reported compliance and thus were not sealed,” said Yunus, Deputy Commissioner of Kullu.
The district administration, he said, will submit compliance report to the High Court on July 5. However, all did not look so easy. Chetan Thakur, promoter of Teji Paying guest house alleged he had necessary papers. “No one served us any prior notice about violations. We came to know only on Friday and have already moved the HC as we have approvals from tourism department and Pollution Control Board. The HC will surely give us relief.”
Kehar Singh was equally upset that despite having demolished a portion of his residential home, including toilets, his property was sealed. “This not a commercial property. I have a large family and brothers are also living in the same house. So we added space which they call violation.”
At Summer Hill guest house, one of Kasol’s leading hotels, the promoters demolished eight rooms and illegal structures. The teams sealed two upper storeys. Many property owners rued that they had taken loans and were paying taxes to the government. “Why did not the forest officials knock at their doors when the hotels were built? They were given power supply and water connections,” local Gram panchayat Pradhan Kesari Devi said.