Financial help of Rs 1,000 offered in May to tourism sector workers yet to reach beneficiaries
Slothful system of tourism department, apathetic banks and reluctant hotel and resort owners have resulted in failure of Uttarakhand government’s initiative to provide immediate financial help to workers of tourism industry hit hard during the lockdown period. In the month of May the state government had provided a sum of Rs 24 crore to the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) to transfer Rs 1,000 to the bank accounts of about 2.4 lakh workers associated with hotels, guest houses, home stays, resorts, taxi operators and porters. The objective of the government was to provide some relief to these workers who had lost their source of income due to prolonged lockdown enforced to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
However, after more than five months of the decision and at a time when the tourism sector has become operational again after the end of restrictions, only 40 per cent of the earmarked amount of Rs 24 crore has been distributed to beneficiaries so far. In the meantime the state government has also announced a second instalment of Rs 1,000 to every worker but considering the fate of the first instalment it is unlikely that this gesture of the government would reach into the hands of the workers in coming days.
Manmohan Singh Bhandari who works in a resort in Lansdowne in Pauri district said that the owner told him about the government help. “Though the amount was meagre but considering the bad financial condition, I applied for the sum but till today I have not received the amount. Now things are almost back to normal and I don’t require this small help,’’ he said. Showing the documents to this correspondent, the owner of the hotel, Rajesh Rawat said that the details of all nine workers were provided to the department on August 12 but despite reminders no money has been transferred into the bank accounts of the workers. One official of the tourism department of Pauri said that a sum of Rs 18.60 lakh has been transferred to the accounts of 1,166 workers so far. He informed that payment of 208 workers is still pending. A story similar to the Pauri district prevails in all parts of the state. A hotel owner of Dehradun district said that though his workers received the money there are many who failed to get it.
When contacted, the Joint Director of UTDB, Vivek Singh Chauhan told The Pioneer that his office has received no complaint regarding non receipt of the financial help. He claimed that in fact the hotel and resort owners are reluctant to claim the financial help due to some unknown fears. Chauhan said that Uttarakhand is the only state in the country which has provided financial help to the workers of tourism and associated industry.
Thursday, 05 November 2020 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
