PM Modi's Mysuru Stay Bills Pending Even After a Year, Hotel Threatens Legal Action: Report
New Delhi: Authorities – at the Centre or in the state – have not cleared partial pending hotel dues amounting to around Rs 80 lakh, incurred after the stay of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hotel in Mysuru, Karnataka, for a National Tiger Conservation Authority programme as per a report by The Hindu on May 24.
The payment is now more than a year due and the hotel has threatened legal action if the dues are not cleared by June 1.
A ‘central government’ event
In April 2023, Modi stayed at the Radisson Blu hotel in Mysuru in Karnataka to inaugurate an event to celebrate 50 years of Project Tiger. The event was organised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The State Forest Department was told to conduct the programme (scheduled in early April) at a cost of Rs 3 crore – an amount that the Union government assured it would pay in full. However arrangements were made at the last minute on the directions of the centre; the Union government also added additional activities, which raised the final costs to Rs 6.3 crore, The Hindu reported. This, per The Hindu report, was communicated to officials at the Union government.
State to pay, says Centre; State refuses
The Centre released Rs 3 crore for the payment. However, when Karnataka’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) wrote to the Deputy Inspector-General of the NTCA in September 2023, the NTCA wrote back in February this year saying that the state forest department should pay the remaining expenses of around ₹ 3.33 crore.
Per The Hindu’s report, in March this year, the state forest department wrote to the NTCA again reminding them of the dues as well as the pending hotel bills of the Prime Minister’s stay at Radisson Blu Plaza amounting to Rs 80.6 lakh.
In May, hotel authorities wrote to the Deputy Conservator of Forests Basavaraju reminding him of the non-payment of bills “even 12 months after the utilisation of our hotel services”, per The Hindu. When contacted, Basavaraju told the newspaper that said that the state government would not pay the dues as it was a Central government programme.
The hotel has threatened legal action if the dues are not cleared by June 1. It has also said that a delayed payment interest of 18% per annum – amounting to an additional Rs. 12.09 lakh – would have to be paid along with the outstanding dues.
Incidentally, it was the same trip during which the fact that Modi did not sight a tiger at a Bandipur safari courted controversy. While local BJP leaders blamed the driver for the no-show of any tiger, senior forest officials came out in support of the safari driver. Officials at the tiger reserve also alleged that “in the name of high security, vehicles [the PM’s security team] repeatedly went on the selected route, hampering the sightings”.
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