Taking cognizance of the shutdown call on December 30 given by the the association of the traders against the hiked commercial tax by the civic body of Dehradun, the State Government has constituted a committee led by an additional secretary urban development to look into the matter . The committee will submit its report in 15 days after interacting with the persons concerned and till then the new tax regime has been put on hold with immediate effect.
Other members of the committee would be additional secretary law, director urban development and city commissioners of Dehradun, Haldwani and Haridwar. The decision has been taken after the secretary urban development DS Garbyal had talked to the Mayor Dehradun. Before the discussion, a Congress delegation raised the issue that have made the traders’ body to convene a strike on December 30.
Meanwhile, receiving good response from the tourists, the owners of hotels and restaurants are approaching the excise and entertainment department seeking license to organise new year -eve party for the tourists. The statistics reveal that the number of application seeking license for new year party is more than that of the previous years.
Things are encouraging for the hotel and restaurant owners with people from various parts of the state aside from Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh booking hotels online to celebrate such parties in Mussoorie and other tourist destinations located in the neighbourhod of Dehradun.
A Mussoorie- based hotel official who reached the entertainment department for seeking license for parties on December 30/31 said that some tourists from Delhi and Chandigarh have booked hotels online for such parties on December 30 and December 31. Tourists book hotels each year online or telephone and this year is no exception, he said, adding that Mussoorie being the main destination, they are providing them the best of facilities under the purview of law.
Around 100 applications seeking license for organising new year parties on December 30-31 from hotels and restaurants have been received at excise and entertainment departments. The figure would reach up to 150, sources say.
Dehradun District Excise Department Officer Pawan Kumar Singh said that a total of 40 applications seeking license for the bars had been received last year and around Rs four lakhs were collected as exercise tax from the hotels and restaurants in the district. This year, the number has increased and the department has received around 70 applications seeking bar license so far and it is expected to increase upto to 100 in the coming days, he said. The department charges Rs 1000 as registration fee for seeking license for the same and Rs 5000 per day is charged for bar license from the hotels and restaurants for organizing such parties. Those hotel and restaurant owners while being given bar licenses have been given necessary guidelines to avoid untoward incidents. Apart from this, department officials are deployed to conduct checking in the hotels and the restaurants on December 30/31 to ensure that they are implementing the instructions.
The district entertainment department has also received 30 applications for new year parties. last year around 70 such applications were received. The department had earned around `3 lakh in the form of tax from hotels last year, said the district entertainment assistant commissioner VK Rawat while talking to The Pioneer on Saturday.