Prioritize rent fixation
The government has decided to take some action against the overcharging of rent by various lodges and hotels. During the past few weeks many such reports have come to the fore where tourists alleged overcharging at some places.
Overcharging and exploitation of tourists at various tourist destinations in the Kashmir valley is giving a bad name to the whole tourist industry of Kashmir. Reports of overcharging of tourists by the hoteliers, house boat owners, service providers, transporters etc at the various tourist destinations of the Valley including the places at Dal Lake, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg have been pouring in and all these issues need to be tackled with the stakeholders too be given a responsibility to ensure that such practices are not followed.
These issues were reported as the rent rate fixations have not been adhered to at many places. Even the authorities too need to have taken this issue seriously and worked on it way back.
Since the covid-19 pandemic has played havoc with the tourism Industry not only in Jammu and Kashmir but across the globe, some loopholes have remained in the sector as most of the attention of authorities was fixed on getting the trade back on track. Hence some key issues like rate fixation and its implementation remained on the back burner.
However, as things are shaping up and the region is preparing for increased tourist arrivals during the year end the focus should shift back to the services and other related issues.
Not only should the administration focus on rent fixation in tourism sector alone but rent fixation for rooms and places of residence hired by students and other working professionals in Srinagar city should also be taken up for consideration.
Notably, the District Magistrate, Srinagar had constituted a committee for fixation of rent of rooms hired by students and other working class in city. The inter-departmental committee had been entrusted to finish the task within a period of 15 days besides, officials were asked to ensure that students do not face inconvenience on this account.
The committee did workout per square feet rent in different locations and also take into account the standard expenses involved viz a viz power and water supply, or any other recurring tariff, but the rates are flouted in most of the areas.
Pertinently, a large number of students in various areas of city complained about overcharging of room rent and related issues. The district administration had accordingly initiated the process for a fair and transparent process to ensure standardisation of rent to be paid for hired properties.
Rent fixation has always been an issue in a place like Srinagar. The various residential areas that fall under different ranges and zones have different rates that are charged from tenants. Not only the students but working professionals and those who outsiders who work in Srinagar also face the issue of rent fixation as they too complain of uneven rates and facilities.
Since renting of properties for residential purposes has off late turned out to be a good earning option so most of the residential areas are putting up a room or two for rent or even dedicate one or two bedroom sets for rentals in their homes. This has meant earning some extra bucks for various families especially those who have no male member to look after the requirements of the family. But all this activity should not mean exploitation from any quarter. The authorities need to act tough on such complaints.
KV Network
