Leh, May 31, 2025: A delegation comprising members of All Ladakh Hotel and Guest House Association (ALHGHA), led by its President, Rigzin Wangmo Lachic, called on the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd), at Raj Niwas. Chief Secretary, Dr Pawan Kotwal, IAS, was present in the meeting.

At the outset, the delegates expressed their gratitude to the UT Administration, headed by the HLG, for meeting their long-standing demand for a separate electricity tariff sub-category for hotels and guest houses, which has been approved by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for UTS of J&K and Ladakh. The decision, they said, has come as a huge relief for them. They also informed the HLG about the increase in footfall of tourists in Ladakh, stating that the number of tourists visiting Ladakh currently stands at 25-30% of what it was in previous years.

The delegates apprised the HLG of issues faced by owners of hotels and guesthouses in paying interest on loans availed by them from banks due to the decrease in tourists’ footfall following the recent incident in Pahalgam. They requested the HLG and Chief Secretary for their intervention in apprising the banks during the meeting of Union Territory Level Bankers Committee (UTLBC) of Ladakh to restructure their loans so that the hotels and guest houses are not declared non-performing asset (NPA) by banks and also to increase the moratorium period to provide some relief to them.

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There was also detailed discussion on providing solar rooftops at subsidised rates to commercial entities, simplifying registration process for hotels/guest houses, holding meeting with concerned stakeholders and concerned departments such as Fire Department and Pollution Department to explore alternatives for norms required for registering new/existing hotels/guest houses and the need to survey to upgrade facilities at Tourist Information Centre (TIC), etc.

The delegates also informed the HLG about the ‘Ladakh is Waiting’ campaign initiated by them to boost the tourism sector and requested the HLG’s intervention in promoting Ladakh tourism on a large scale.

The HLG assured to provide all possible assistance for boosting the tourism sector in Ladakh and asked the delegates to pursue the matter with the Chief Secretary for its speedy redressal.