Snippets

Govt To Assist Private Players In Tourism

The Tourism Ministry will dole out assistance to the tune of Rs 30 crore to private players who invest in projects like tourist trains, cruise terminals, convention centres and golf courses. Assistance will be released on the basis of project proposals received by the ministry according to Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury.

The Finance Ministry has also come out with a "Viability Gap Funding Scheme" to assist large tourism infrastructure projects like international convention centres through public- private partnership.

AHAR ‘Dance Bar’ Petition Hearing On Oct 3rd

The Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) petition against shutting of dance bars, which was up for hearing by the Chief Justice has been now scheduled to be heard again on October 3, 2005, after much deliberations. The bench has given the government a month's time to file their papers and 15 days for AHAR, who had filed a writ petition.

The next hearing is scheduled to be on 3rd of October, this year.Commenting on the situation, Dippender Singh Sachdev, President, AHAR said, "The current situation will not just be restricted to dance bars but will effect other sectors of the hospitality industry also. AHAR was always against the growing dance bar culture from so long, but then the government never took any steps. Now suddenly, they are making new policies at their will, which I feel are totally unnecessary. It is one way of targetting the industry. They have already bifurcated the industry into south India outlets, fast food outlets, permit rooms, fine dining restaurants, etc. We, as fools have been party to all this for so long, but now things are going over board. With such rampant policies by the government, soon a time will come when they will even close down bars, pubs and discos too."