category Regional, dharamshala, , tags Regional, dharamshala, , DW BUREAU dharamshala The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday passed the HP Tourism Development and Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeking to amend nine sections of the 2002 Act and making registration of all tourism units, including home stays, mandatory. The Amendment Bill, 2023, was introduced in the assembly by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday. Under the provisions of the amendment Bill, all the operational units would be required to apply for registration within 30 days but they would not have to pay any fee till the expiry of the existing registration license. The new units would have to apply for registration and units operating illegally without registration would face action. The registration of the tourism units would have to be done within 90 days after fulfilling all the formalities. A provision of six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 had been made for the units running without registration under the 2002 Act. The amendment Bill seeks to do away with imprisonment, but the amount of fine would be increased to Rs one lakh. The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development and Registration Act enacted in 2002 had not been revised and changes were required as the tourism sector has undergone tremendous changes in terms of scope activities and the number of persons involved in tourism and allied activities. Besides, proliferation of tourism units, several other activities like water sports, adventure sports, home stays and other such units have come under the ambit of tourism. The concerned department is facing the challenge of regulating the tourism sector and other functions like registration of tourism units. It also seeks decriminalization of offences and imposition of penalties. Meanwhile, the BJP legislators turned milkmen holding empty utensils in the Vidhan Sabha campus at Tapovan here on Thursday to protest against the unfulfilled poll guarantees of the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh. The BJP MLAs led by leader of the opposition, Jai Ram Thakur, raised anti-government slogans before the session began and demanded that the Congress regime should buy milk for Rs 80 to 100 per litre as promised to the farmers. Thakur said that the Congress leaders had announced ten guarantees on the eve of the last assembly polls. We are here in the Vidhan Sabha campus to know what happened to the promise of buying cow and buffalo milk for Rs 80 and Rs 100 respectively, he told the media. Escalating his attack on the government, Thakur said the farmers and milk producers are waiting for the promises to be fulfilled even after one year. The milk is presently being purchased for Rs 30 to 32 per litre in the rural areas, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said and added that even though the Congress has recently announced to buy milk from January 2024, the people do not believe in its announcements. Thakur said that the Congress had promised to buy 10 litres from each farmer. He added that all the farmers do not have 10 litres of milk and sought a clarification from the government on the issue. The BJP leaders had earlier on Wednesday staged a protest against the non-fulfilment of poll promises of buying cow dung for Rs 2 per kilo from the farmers. (editor dailyworld.in)