The Hindu 03.05.2010
‘Local bodies shirking responsibility’
Special Correspondent
Kozhikode: Hoteliers have said it is unfair for local bodies to duck the responsibility of garbage disposal and pass it on to the hotel industry.
Since garbage removal and health care, like education and drinking water supply, had always been the primary responsibility of the municipal administration, how could the authorities pass on these responsibilities to the hoteliers, N.B Krishna Kurup, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, said in a statement on Saturday.
He condemned the decision to ask the hoteliers to arrange for garbage disposal and issue health cards to hotel employees.
Harassment alleged
He complained that instead of treating the hotel industry as an essential service and providing it incentives, the government had been harassing hoteliers by asking them to remove garbage and issue health cards to the hotel employees.
In his view, it was impractical to provide health cards to the hotel employees as most of them worked on a temporary basis and did not work in one place for more than three months.
The regional office-bearers of the association, at a meeting here recently, had adopted a resolution appealing to all government departments “to support the hotel industry instead of harassing hoteliers by enforcing new impractical rules”.
