Times of India: Hyderabad: Sunday, 31 July 2022.
A new expose has revealed that nine private organisations owe the Telangana government Rs 272 crore in dues as lease amount for the government lands they hold.
The facts were revealed through an RTI response received by the Forum for Good Governance (FGG) where some big names like Trident hotel (near Shilparamam), Snow World, Prasad's IMAX were found to be defaulting money to the tune of crores.
The biggest defaulter is the Trident hotel, who haven't paid dues of Rs 87.86 crore since 2007, followed by Urban Entertainment Center, Basheerbagh who owe Rs 62.77 crore since 2014. The third biggest defaulter is Three star hotel and spa who owe the government Rs 50.35 crore since 2009.
These private organisations had taken the government lands on lease for tourism development but have defaulted, some like Jalavihar from as far back as 2000. Prasad's IMAX and Snowworld owe dues from 2002 and Expotel from 2003.
The RTI response has further found that while defaults have occured, the government's repeated attempts to recover the dues have proven futile. Almost all of the 9 organisations were issued notices and reminded as latest as 2022 but the amounts have still not been cleared.
"They developers got prime lands and are making huge profits but not paying the rent for years together. There may be many such units elsewhere in the state," said M Padmanabha Reddy, Secretary, Forum for Governance in a letter to the Chief Secretary, further stating that these defaulters could possibly be having political clout and hence the Tourism Development Corporation was not going beyond issuance of notices to them.
A new expose has revealed that nine private organisations owe the Telangana government Rs 272 crore in dues as lease amount for the government lands they hold.
The facts were revealed through an RTI response received by the Forum for Good Governance (FGG) where some big names like Trident hotel (near Shilparamam), Snow World, Prasad's IMAX were found to be defaulting money to the tune of crores.
The biggest defaulter is the Trident hotel, who haven't paid dues of Rs 87.86 crore since 2007, followed by Urban Entertainment Center, Basheerbagh who owe Rs 62.77 crore since 2014. The third biggest defaulter is Three star hotel and spa who owe the government Rs 50.35 crore since 2009.
These private organisations had taken the government lands on lease for tourism development but have defaulted, some like Jalavihar from as far back as 2000. Prasad's IMAX and Snowworld owe dues from 2002 and Expotel from 2003.
The RTI response has further found that while defaults have occured, the government's repeated attempts to recover the dues have proven futile. Almost all of the 9 organisations were issued notices and reminded as latest as 2022 but the amounts have still not been cleared.
"They developers got prime lands and are making huge profits but not paying the rent for years together. There may be many such units elsewhere in the state," said M Padmanabha Reddy, Secretary, Forum for Governance in a letter to the Chief Secretary, further stating that these defaulters could possibly be having political clout and hence the Tourism Development Corporation was not going beyond issuance of notices to them.