’Luggage scanners too costly for small hotels’

Hoteliers and Restaurant Association asks for exemption from this post-26/11 Mumbai police guideline; says equipment takes a lot of space, needs trained staff

'Luggage scanners too costly for small hotels'

Hoteliers and Restaurant Association asks for exemption from this post-26/11 Mumbai police guideline; says equipment takes a lot of space, needs trained staff

While beefing up security post 26/11 seems the most obvious move, the guidelines issued by the Mumbai police have not gone down well with hoteliers. While five-star hotels have complied with the guidelines, it's the owners of small hotels that are complaining. Luggage scanners, they say, are not affordable.

The Hoteliers and Restaurant Associationu00a0 (HRA- Western India) has written a letter to Home Minister Jayantrao Patil and Director General of Police A N Roy asking for an exemption from installing luggage scanners. "Luggage scanners are exorbitantly priced and their maintenance cost is very high. Moreover, they occupy a lot of space and need trained staff to operate. Small hoteliers should be exempted from this guideline," said S P Jain, president of HRA-WI.

Jain added that these luggage scanners are available only in the international market and exporting them is an added expense.

"Importing these machines is a very lengthy process. Hotels need import licence for making such purchases," said Jain. R S Bedi, owner of Hotel Diplomat a two-star property at Apollo Bunder, said, "Hotels have beefed up security to the best of their ability. But complying by all the guidelines laid down by the police is not feasible for small hoteliers."u00a0u00a0

Alex D'Silva, purchase and operations manager of Hotel Transit, a three-star hotel at Vile Parle, agreed. "Our investment in security equipment is a waste, as companies selling these products do not provide after-sale services. Installing these machines will burn holes in our pocket," he said.

However, the police do not seem convinced by the reasons cited by these hoteliers. Vijay Singh Jadhav, deputy commissioner of police, said, "The guidelines areu00a0 issued for the safety of hotels. If they can invest crores on their hotel, why can't they install security equipment that cost a few lakhs?"

The guidelines say
>>u00a0Guidelines issued by the Mumbai police:
>> Install CCTV cameras
>> Install door and hand-held metal detectorsu00a0
>> Install baggage scanneru00a0
>> Install fire and burglar alarms
>>u00a0Install video door phones
>>u00a0Frisk visitors and customers at the hotel
>>u00a0Provide photo ID for staff and other officials
>>u00a0Deploy security guards

Rs 80 lakh
The approximate cost of baggage scanner