Will former DC's plan to renovate decades old hotels be a reality?

Despite the mushrooming of large hotels and fast food centres, there are a few decades old hotels such as Indra Bhavan and Narayana Hotel in Mangalore, Lakshmi Nivas in Kalladka which continue to attract customers through the quality of food that is served. Though these hotels serve the best of authentic food which the taste buds relish, the customers at times wish if these hotels wearing a worn out look, get a better appearance.   

It was with the same idea that Harsh Gupta, who was the deputy commissioner of the district for a brief period during the assembly elections, developed a novel plan to help the owners of such small and old but popular hotels to improve the hotel condition. Though an initial step was taken to identify such hotels in the district, the novel plan witnessed a halt due to his transfer.

Explaining his unique and ambitious plan which never got a start, Harsh Gupta, Commissioner of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department said that he developed an idea to help the owners of small hotels to improve the condition of their hotels, after visiting famous Shenoy Restaurant in Guruvayanakere near Belthangady.

“Upon relishing some of the delicacies which were authentic of Dakshina Kannada, I felt that the hotel could be improved and made a little more attractive and hygienic to draw more customers. Upon discussing with the hotel owner, he too expressed his wish to improve the hotel but also showed his helplessness as he could not take the risk of improving the hotel by availing bank loan. These hotels are maintained for years with hard labour by retaining the unique taste without compromising with quality. It was then that I decided to identify such hotels with more than 50 year old history in the district and extend government help to the willing owners in the form of providing loan at nominal interest rate through the tourism department or through some other means,” he told Deccan Herald.

Retain original look

As these hotels are known for their traditional look with tiled roof and wooden ceilings, Harsh Gupta said the plan was only to reinforce the appearance by keeping the original look intact. In fact, the plan was to emphasis on hygiene factor, by making the kitchen sanitised and transparent.  “Providing technical guidance for bringing in minor changes and getting inputs from the hotel management institute would prove helpful. The basic idea was to attract more number of tourists, by taking the help of tourism and other departments concerned,” he said, hoping that the initiative will be taken forward by his successor.

Upon his direction, letters were written to the municipality officers and tahsildars asking to identify such hotels in their jurisdiction and prepare a report on the same.
When asked Deputy Commissioner N Prakash if he had any plans to push the matter, he said the government had no such schemes to aid the private hotels.

“Though it is a novel idea, there is no government fund available for the purpose. However, I would speak to the tourism department official and clarify about the availability of such provision,” he said.