M A I N   N E W S

Who will foot PM’s hotel bills?
Varinder Walia and Ashok Sethi

Amritsar, June 19
Who will foot the hotel and food bills during the two visits of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in November last year which runs into several lakhs of rupees? Several union Cabinet ministers, Chief Ministers and other ministers, members of the BJP National Executive and senior bureaucrats, including SSPs, had camped here for many days in connection with the two-day National Executive meet and to preside over the concluding function of bicentenary celebrations of legendry Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Interestingly, most of the hotels were booked by government officials including the Civil Surgeon, the Deputy Commissioner on behalf of the BJP ministers, bureaucrats and senior BJP leaders. Since the hotel bookings were done by local officers unofficially, the part payments, too were made by them in cash. However, record and booking registers of some of the hotels revealed that the bookings and part payments were done by government officials. However, the rooms booked in the name of SSPs of different districts remain totally unpaid till date.

The Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association is up in arms against the inordinate delay in payments. A spokesman for the association said the hoteliers had already given the rooms on 50 per cent concession to the BJP under “pressure” from the state government. However, even after eight months no one has bothered to clear the huge payments.

The booking register of the local Hotel Sun City Towers shows that the rooms for the stay of journalists, including Editors, were booked by the then Civil Surgeon, Dr A.S. Sandhu for November 2 and 3 to cover the BJP’s National Executive meeting in which the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and BJP National President, Mr Jana Krishnamurthi took part. Out of the total bill of Rs 39,990 (50 per cent discount was already given), the hotel received only Rs. 20,000 in cash from the then Civil Surgeon. However, the payment of telephone, laundry and food amounting to Rs 25,779 still remains’ outstanding. It may be mentioned here that Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, a senior BJP leader and then Health and Family Welfare Minister had reportedly got the rooms booked through the Civil Surgeon. Similarly, the payment amounting to Rs 1.05 lakh is still outstanding against the BJP. The bill duly verified and signed by Dr Baldev Raj Chawla was sent to the Deputy Commissioner recently for making the payment. However, Mr S.S. Puri, Deputy Commissioner feigned ignorance about the bills sent to him. He said the administration in no way make such payments on behalf of any political party.

According to sources, though the BJP had cleared the payment of food amounting to Rs 3900 yet the payment for the hotel rooms for Rs 7922 remains outstanding where at least five district police chiefs of the state had camped for four days during the visit of the Prime Minister.

The two major hotels where the Prime Minister and his senior colleagues had stayed too had complained that their entire payment was still outstanding despite repeated personal requests to the senior party leaders who had owned the responsibility of clearing the bills. Mr A.P. Singh Chatha, general secretary of the Amritsar hotel and Restaurant Association, when contacted by The Tribune, confirmed that the bills pertaining to the two visits of Prime Minister to the holy city were still pending. The association sought immediate intervention of Mr Jana Krishnamurthi, for clearance of the pending bills.