Peterhof, a premier and popular hotel of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) in Shimla, owes house tax of Rs 50 lakh to the Shimla Municipal Corporation.
The HPTDC and the General Administration Department (GAD) have been squabbling, asking each other to pay the amount to the corporation.
The municipal commissioner of the corporation, AN Sharma said, “HPTDC has been asked to pay us the house tax arrears after a high level meeting was held by the state government on Tuesday.”
Most parts of the Peterhof hotel is run commercially by HPTDC. The GAD has possession of eight rooms in the building.These rooms are used to house state guests and other VIPs of the state government.
Sources say the loss-making HPTDC may find it tough to cough up Rs 50 lakh.
HPTDC has around fifty properties across the state in Shimla, Kullu, Manali, Dharamsala, Chamba, Dalhousie, Mandi, Narkanda, Palampur, Kasauli, Barog and Chail among other places.
While a few are making profit, most of the hotels are incurring loss.The company is highly over-staffed as well.