Statesman News Service
MALDA, 1 JAN: Malda district administration is in a dilemma over disbursement of operating expenses for the Mango Tourism Festival to a private hotel owner. Following the direction of West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation, the administration had organised a three-day Mango Tourism Festival from 3 July last year at a private hotel, more than 10 km north of English Bazaar town.
The hotel owner, Mr D Agarwala, has claimed Rs 5.07 lakh while the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation has allotted Rs 5, 00,275 only. The district administration has finally sought clarifications from the proprietor of the hotel to substantiate its claims by submitting supporting vouchers and other documents categorically.
Though the minister-in-charge for tourism department, Mr Manab Mukherjee, had inaugurated the festival but since its second day it had failed to serve its purpose due to the wrong selection of its venue.
The decision of selecting the venue was not only criticised by the common people but also a section of government officials. The then additional district magistrate (development), Mrs Indrani Saha, had expressed unhappiness over the selection of venue. She said: “I did not select the hotel. The venue was finalised from the higher level”. At present the newly posted additional district magistrate (development), Mr Indrajit Paul detected that the hotel owner had received Rs 55, 000 in advance for organising the festival and latter claimed Rs 5.07 lakh by submitting a consolidated bill.Mr Paul also detected that besides hotel bills, expenses also included transportation, banner festoon, and construction of many portals across the town for advertisement and other miscellaneous expenses.
After checking the hotel bills, submitted by the hotel owner, Mr Paul sought clarifications regarding the present bill from the hotel owner and asked him to furnish detail vouchers categorically as per the contract and other services for the festival. Suspecting doubts, the hotel owner Mr D Agarwala, blamed the district administrative official for delaying the payment. But the additional district magistrate (development), Mr Indrajit Paul said: “We have detected anomaly in the abnormal bill amount submitted and claimed by the hotel owner. I have gone through the file of Mango Tourism Festival and conditions with the hotel owner for providing services”.
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