Srinagar, June 23, 2012: Despite clear orders from Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is adamant on not vacating the Centaur Lakeview Hotel in Srinagar which they have been occupying for years, despite the police already having identified an alternative accommodation for them.
MHA has asked the Indian police and military agencies to vacate hotels and guesthouses in Srinagar in view of heavy tourist rush and dearth of accommodation for them.
The CRPF is officially occupying only 12 rooms in the hotel, however they are actually living in 28 rooms at a constant tariff of Rs 175 per room per day over the past more than two decades. A sizable part of this paltry tariff is still withheld.
Raised with a five-star infrastructure, the current rental of the hotel is Rs 5500 for a double bedroom and Rs 4500 for a single bedroom per day. “The hotel has lost revenue of Rs 32.4 crores on account of the CRPF occupation,” said a senior local police officer.
“Electricity worth Rs 400 is consumed a day in each room under CRPF occupation. No wonder the average electricity bill of the hotel has reached to more than a staggering Rs 15 lakh a month,” the officer said.
According to the officer, the office of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police, Central Kashmir, has sent several letters to the CRPF on the issue, but nothing came out. “The CRPF was asked to vacate at least seven times, but they did not reply to our letters,” said the officer.
“We have even identified alternative accommodation for them in Bemina area,” he said.
The police officer said that they started the correspondence after the directives of MHA. “MHA has ordered every security agency in Kashmir to vacate the hotels and guest houses. We were following that and wrote letters to CRPF,” he said.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) CRPF, Sudhir Kumar told Greater Kashmir that on such issues the correspondence between them and police is going on and added that a DIG of CRPF was putting up in the hotel. “It is his residence,” he claimed. News agencies