Delhi budget hotels get a month’s time to prevent closure after pollution body’s notice

Over 350 budget hotels in Delhi, which were facing closure with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) giving them shutdown notices because of absence of proper effluent and sewage treatment plants, may have been given a month’s time to prevent shutdown.

Over 350 budget hotels in Delhi, which were facing closure with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) giving them shutdown notices because of absence of proper effluent and sewage treatment plants, may have been given a month’s time to prevent shutdown.

here are around 1,500 budget hotels in Delhi, most of which are located in Paharganj, Karol Bagh and Mahipalpur. (HT FILE)

According to the hotel owners’ body, Delhi Hotel Mahasangh, environment minister Imran Hussain has provided the relief after a meeting with hotel owners on Tuesday.

“We told the minister that hotels and guesthouses, up to 20 rooms, should be given exemption. However, as discussed in the meeting, the ones which have operational kitchen or rooftop restaurant have to comply with the DPCC rules. We also demanded simplification of the procedure,” said Arun Gupta, president of the body.

“The minister gave us a month’s time. We have been also asked to submit a note on our demands,” Gupta added.

Hussain and DPCC officials couldn’t be reached for their comments.

The notice by DPCC, individually issued on April 10, said if they (hotel owners) failed to comply, power and water supplies will be snapped. Delhi Police and health department of the North Corporation had also been asked to cancel the licences of these establishments.

According to traders, Delhi police is the nodal agency for granting licences to run a guesthouse and its licencing department has never asked for permission from the DPCC. “If it is mandatory to get the consent from DPCC, then why doesn’t the licencing department show it on their website as it does for an approval from fire department and MCD,” hotel owners said.

There are around 1,500 budget hotels in Delhi, most of which are located in Paharganj, Karol Bagh and Mahipalpur. Most of these don’t have consent to establish (CTE) or consent to operate (CTO), which are mandatory to run hotels in Delhi. CTE is the first step for any industry or trade to begin operations and the permission is given within four months of it being applied for. The CTO is given by the DPCC. This permission is a mandatory part of the process in place for ensuring that water and air are not polluted. However, these hotels didn’t have the required permission.