KESHAV ADHIKARI

DHADING, Apr 4: Dhading District Administration Office yesterday monitored hotels operating along the Prithvi Highway. A monitoring team led by Chief District Officer Basudev Ghimire monitored hotels operating along the highway from Gajuri to Khanikhola.

The team inspected as many as 14 hotels and checked if prices of food items were properly displayed, their service to customers and sanitation among others.

Assistant CDO Nanda Lal Sharma, Inspector Hemanta Bhandari Chhetry of Area Police Office, Gajuri, Rajendra Basnet, Field Coordinator of Food for Action in Nepal and mediapersons were part of the inspection team.

Majority of hotels were found to have not displayed the price list properly. Similarly, the team also found that hotels were not maintaining sanitation and cleanliness, with some selling alcohol without government permission.

CDO Ghimire said there have been some improvement in recent days, but hotels still need to do more. Hotel operators must provide satisfactory services to customers and must not use children as workers, said Ghimire. “We have warned the hotel operators to improve and meet the basic criteria,” he added. Assistant CDO Sharma said the monitoring team has given hotels one week to improve their services. “We will continue the monitoring these hotels in future as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, police took a couple under control for their involvement in illegal activities at Laxmi Hotel in Goganpani VDC of the district. The hotel operator was also taken into custody.Highway hotels have earned notoriety for fleecing people, mostly in cahoots with bus drivers, by serving them stale food and charging them extraordinarily high.

–The Himalayan