In observance of the orders of the Uttarakhand High Court, the district authorities continued its campaign of surveying hotels in Nainital for the second day on Tuesday. Of the 15 hotels which were surveyed on Tuesday, only three hotels were found to have parking facility for vehicles of the guests. The team of the district administration checked various aspects including the registration of the hotels under Sarai Act, tariffs, number of hotel rooms and the parking facility among other features. The executive officer of the Nainital municipality Rohitash Sharma said that the survey campaign will continue in the future. After the survey is completed, the team will submit its report to the Nainital district magistrate. Meanwhile, in case of hotels and guest house being operated without registration under the Sarai Act and hotels found operating without having parking space, the authorities will initiate action for sealing such premises. The executive officer further informed that according to the orders of the high court, the survey and related actions are to be completed before September 15.
According to the official, a total of 27 hotels have been checked in Nainital during the two days of the drive so far. Additional district magistrate Harvir Singh, additional superintendent of police Harish Chandra Sati, the municipality executive officer Rohitash Sharma and others were part of one of the teams which conducted the checks. At the same time, another team headed by the joint magistrate Vandana Singh conducted checking of about 12 hotels located in the Tallital, along the Haldwani Road and other areas. The team checking the hotels also collected information about the fire extinguishing tools, closed circuit television camera and other necessary aspects.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier this year, while hearing on a petition, the high court had expressed concern at number of vehicles entering Nainital much beyond the town’s capacity. The court had directed that hotels without any parking space for vehicles of their guests should be made to keep 50 per cent of their total rooms closed during the tourist season as part of measures to tackle crowding in the lake city.