According to a report prepared by the Eco-Tourism wing of the Forest Department, there are 242 FRHs in Uttarakhand. According to Sunil Kainthola of MSI, out of the 242 FRHs listed in the report, 36 bungalows were damaged, 49 were repairable, 74 were in satisfactory condition while only 59 were stated to be in good condition.
During 200-2014, the department invested over `11 crore in the maintenance and repair of 173 of its FRHs.
As per the departmental report available online, these properties are managed by a total of 260 staff out of which only 52 are formally trained. The other FRH staff constitutes 117 daily wage workers and 101 permanent staff.
Interestingly, the total revenue earned by these facilities for the financial year 2013-14 was just `9,70,000.
Probably the monthly pay bill of the FRH staff must be several hundred times more, he added.