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Pool aur kaante

Updated on: 28 September,2009 07:11 AM IST  | 
Urvashi Seth |

With Mumbai already reeling under 15 per cent water cut, hotel body says tourism ministry's directive permitting 3 and 4-star hotels to have swimming pools will spell doom for city in days to come

Pool aur kaante

With Mumbai already reeling under 15 per cent water cut, hotel body says tourism ministry's directive permitting 3 and 4-star hotels to have swimming pools will spell doom for city in days to come

The Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRA-WI) says the Tourism Ministry's latest directive that allows three and four-star hotels to have swimming pools is inappropriate in view of the water shortage in the city.

Not only does the association want the ministry to call back the directive, which makes pools in three and four star hotels a 'desirable option', it also wants pools in five-stars to be declared a 'desirable option' and not a 'mandatory' one as it is now.

The protest follows the BMC's refusal to supply water to swimming pools in hotels due to poor rainfall. "These are times when ways and means are being developed to save natural resources.
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It is absurd on the part of the ministry to put pools in three and four-star hotels under the desirable option," said S P Jain, president, HRA-WI.






"Only 10 per cent of our guestsu00a0 use pools. However, when pools exist, hotels have no option but to charge customers to cover maintenance cost.

They achieve little beyond being showpieces," said Sanjeev Shekhar, general manager of the five-star Marine Plaza at Marine Lines.

Rajiv Malla, corporate general manager, Ambassador group, which has four-star hotels in the city, said swimming pools are best suited for hotels in Goa and Kerala that offer a view to the guests. "Swimming pools in Mumbai are useless," said Malla.

Most of the five-star hotels, including Oberoi and Taj, require around 20 tankers of water a day. Each tanker contains 10,000 litres. There are around 60 three and four-star hotels in the city.

Despite repeated attempts, officials from the tourism ministry remained unavailable for comment.

Voices

All hotels should have swimming pools. Guests who are jetlagged or stressed can relax here.
Protik Kudwa, businessman from Pune

Telling Figures

>> BMC allots 90 litresu00a0 of water per person per day.
>>Average water consumption per family per day is 360 litres. That is 18 buckets considering an average bucket can store 20 litres.
>>Mumbai needs 4,200 MLD of water, but gets only 3,400 MLD.
>>650 MLD of water is wasted due to leakage and thefts.

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