CHITRAL: The Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) has taken control of four hotels of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) in the district. The move is in line with the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

With the aid of the district administration, the TCKP men approached the hotels situated in Chitral city, Bumburate, Booni and Mastuj on Wednesday and asked the PTDC staff to surrender the charge, which they reportedly refused.

A PTDC official told Dawn that they gave the inventory of the hotels and the staff statement to the district administration on demand, but refused to give a written statement to the affect of their surrender as they had got no orders from their managing director in that regard.

When asked about their reaction if forcibly evicted from the hotels, he said that they would not offer any resistance as they had no option but to comply with the directions of the district administration.

The official said that although TCKP had posted its employees to each hotel, their control was still in the hands of PTDC. He said that abrupt change of management of the hotels would create problems for employees as they would be rendered jobless. He pointed out that PTDC hotels were already running in loss and salaries of last 18 months had not been paid to employees.

When contacted, Chitral acting deputy commissioner Abdul Ghafar confirmed to Dawn that that TCKP had taken over the charge of PTDC hotels.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2014