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Pilgrims to face accommodation woes in Vijayawada
With rush for the Krishna Pushakaralu increasing by the day as the deadline for the prestigious event starting on August 12 fast approaching, hotels and lodges here are getting crowded and booked.
Vijayawada: With rush for the Krishna Pushakaralu increasing by the day as the deadline for the prestigious event starting on August 12 fast approaching, hotels and lodges here are getting crowded and booked.
Apparently, owners of such establishments are trying to cash in on the holy event, are contemplating to increase the tariff for pilgrims and are also planning to introduce a 12-hour tariff. Private guest houses and service apartments are also getting ready to accommodate Pushkar pilgrims.
On the other hand, State government’s directive to the hotels and lodges to hand over 20 per cent of their total 5,000 rooms to the administration to meet demand of officials of the Fire Services and other departments has become a topic of discussion.
While star or deluxe hotels and lodges account for 4,000 rooms, the smaller ones share the balance of 1,000 rooms. The service apartments and private guest houses have 300 rooms altogether.
As it is the government is receiving flak for being indifferent to the issue of the owners of hotels and lodges planning to exploit the devotees. Keeping this aspect in mind, pilgrims coming from far-off places, who have to stay here for one or two days are sure to face some inconvenience.
A meeting of owners and managements of hotels and lodges who discussed the accommodation issue reportedly decided to reserve 20 per cent of the rooms, in addition to the government need of 20 per cent, to meet any emergency situation.
This means that 40 per cent of the 5,000 rooms will not be available for the devotees and that only 60 per cent can be set apart for the daily visitors.
With four crore devotees---at the rate of four lakh a day--- expected to visit the city during the river festival, 3,000 rooms will be grossly inadequate, Pattabhi, Vijayawada Hotels Association president, told The Hans India.
“Accommodation in hotels and lodges will surely become a major problem for devotees so we are planning to rent out on a daily basis” he said. The issue of charging tariff for 12 hours is expected to be clear before the big and prestigious 11-day event for the government commences three days later, he added.
