Quake norms rattle Gandhidham hotels

The hotel industry says there is little scope for growth in the Kutch district despite the tax benefits provided. Government norms, which do not allow buildings having more than two storeys in the district which lies in the seismic zone V has bogged down the industry.

According to government regulations for the zone V, it does not give license to built a multi- storeyed building in the region. The only three storeyed building in Kutch is the Bhuj G K Hospital.

Babubhai Agarwal, spokesperson, Gandhidham Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association said: "The government regulation has affected our business and we are not able to compete with other hotels in the state. There is a separate rule for Gandhidham, whereas other parts of the state too faced the devastating earthquake."

"The government made the regulation after taking into consideration the fact that the region comes in an earthquake prone zone. There is no question of giving license to build multi-storeyed hotels in the region," said P K Mukherji, director of Gandhidham Development Authority.

There is no dearth of high profile visitors to the Kutch region and the scope for graded hotels is good. "Top officials from other parts of the country and abroad visit Kutch regularly and require adequate hotels and living facilities," said Nandubhai Goyal, secretary of Gandhidham Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association.

"There also exists the problem of water and disrupted power supply, which is threatening the industry. We have to pay Rs 600 for 10,000 litres of water everyday even though Narmada water is coming in the district for last two years," Goyal added.

"In order to provide all the facilities to our customers, we have to charge a minimum of Rs 1200 per day, which is equivalent to what they pay in Mumbai or Delhi. This amount is inflated, but we have to incur higher costs to provide reasonable facilities," Goyal said.

However, Mukherji, said: "The problem of water will be solved soon as the Narmada water has already come to Kutch and we are looking into the matter to provide all the basic facilities in Gandhidham."

The hotel industry of Gandhidham has a total turnover of Rs 50 crore. There are about 90 hotels and five resorts in Gandhidham.

Among these, four are three star hotels and one is a four star hotel. This number is increasing day by day as business is increasing in the region.