The KVWSMB slapped fines of Rs 50,000 on Annapurna, Yak and Yeti, and Malla hotels each for extracting ground water without having obtained licenses. [break]
A flying squad deployed by the KVWSMB had found all these star hotels operating deep-boring pumps on their premises without acquiring legal permissions.
"We randomly selected three star hotels for monitoring," said Hari Dhakal, Executive Director of the KVWSMB. "Members of the flying squad were not informed about which star hotels we had selected for monitoring even before an hour."
According to Dhakal, the KVWSMB has also directed all the three hotels to apply for acquiring licenses for extracting ground water within three days. As of now, only two five-star hotels -- Everest and Hyatt Regency -- have applied for license needed to extract ground water.
Although almost all five-star hotels depend heavily on ground water, none of them has yet obtained any license so far. Only some 125 apartments, housing colonies and mineral water companies have acquired licenses for extracting underground water.
The KVWSMB has sent samples of water collected from Annapurna, Yak and Yeti and Malla hotels to the laboratory of Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) to find out if they contain any unhygienic elements.
"Visibly, water used by all these hotels look good and hygienic. They all have set up water treatment plants, too," Dhakal said. "But, we can not confirm the quality unless we get lab reports."
Previously, the KVWSMB had fined Shuva Homes, Grande Tower and Sunrise Tower for operating unlicensed deep-boring pumps. Two mineral water companies, Charkhapani and Superpani, were also fined. In the previous raid, the KVWSMB had found managers of all three apartments supplying water containing excessive ammonia and iron.
The crackdown on illegal users of ground water began after a majority of star hotels, mega hospitals, industries and apartments did not comply with the KVWSMB´s diktat. Early this year the KVWSMB had asked all business outlets using ground water to necessarily acquire license.
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