Hospitality in Gujarat and Narmada waters in Kutchch - Both impossible to achieve
Barely a week after the Gujarat chief Minister, Narendra Modi announced massive plans for tourism in Gujarat which included medical tourism, one of the super specialty hospitals in Ahmedabad showed what the true color of medical tourism is.
It allegedly turned away a youth who accidentally slipped from his bike just in front of the hospital. Though the hospital continues to maintain that the youth, Kalpesh Prajapati, was brought dead to the hospital, his family and the auto rickshaw driver who took him to the hospital emergency services, say he was alive for more than twenty minutes when the doctor on duty was arguing to take Prajapati to the government hospital.
Ironically, this hospital is part of the ultra modern communication network for Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The network links public hospitals, major private hospitals and their ambulances in the city. On paper, EMS ensures all hospitals and their ambulances remain connected for communication 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Then why did this happen? The answer is not the failure of the system. It is the attitude towards hospitality and service industry in Gujarat, which did the trick. Consider this. The CM called for a press conference at GMDC conference hall to announce the tourism potential during the navratri festival. But he rarely noticed that he himself was not maintaining any hospitality during the announcement itself. The conference hall was full of bureaucrats and information department officials who occupied the seats leaving the scribes to either sit on the floor or just stand and curse themselves. This is the regular feature with the CM’s press conference. The press kit, which was supposed to be distributed to the journalists, ran out of stock. All the government officials occupying the seats had a kit with them. The lunch was much worse; the hosts took their turn first and left the invitees in the lurch. No body bothered whether the invitees were satisfied with the party.
No journalists got offended nor did they object to this behavior. That's because they have been subjected to this attitude since they have landed in their profession. They have never been treated to good service. They hardly know what service is. But they hardly realized that the root of the problem behind the poor tourism industry in the state is this attitude.
Go to any hotel and you will find an inhospitable waiter and a lifeless reception. Go to any restaurant and the first priority for them is when you are paying the bill and leave the seat so that the next customer can come in.
Gujarat is blessed with some of the best geography in the country. It has the longest coastal line in India. It has Somnath, it has Dwarka, it has the rarest lions in the Gir forests, it has a beautiful hill station in Saputara and historical sites like Lothal, Champaner and Dholavira. It has the beauty of real desert and some of the best historical perspectives in India. But the buck stops here. If you have the dream to visit Champaner and be nostalgic about history, forget it. The Gujarat government seems to have forcefully diverted all the funds allocated to world heritage site to a temple on the hillock. People remember Pavagadh for the temple and not for its historical importance. Worse is Dholavira. The Gujarat Tourism guys will promise you the best of hospitality and if you reach Dholavira, you will find the Toran Guest house without any human being. While we were there, a guy who was transferred recently was complaining about his transfer and sucked almost three hours before providing us food and charging exorbitant rates. If you are traveling parallel to the coast from Dwarka to Somnath, chances are that you will have to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner because there is not a single joint that provides you a good meal. What is the use of the longest coastline when you cannot even see a seafood item, leave alone taste it - thanks to the vegetarianism? Go to Dwarka and you will find one of the worst kept places in the country. Perhaps the only solace is Diu but the attitude has slowly crept into this union territory too. What is the use of the hill station where you hardly have a good living place? Since Gujarat doesn't have a breakfast culture, you have to satisfy yourself with fafdas and jalebis very early in the morning. Not that these are not good options, but you really doesn't have a choice because this is the only and rarest of the rarest item available.You cannot really market your place to aliens unless you know the place yourself. When you don't have the capacity to appreciate and keep up the heritage of this state, you can't expect people from other states or other countries to visit the state and generate revenue.
This article appeared in The Indian Express Aug 31, 2005
No rooms, no food, no water: welcome to Gujarat Tourism’s hotel at Dholavira
D. V. Maheshwari
Bhuj, August 30: The signboard in this hotel run by Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited is bound to impress any tourist. It reads: Gujarat Tourism welcomes you. Incase you are not satisfied with our services and would like to make suggestions/comments, please do not hesitate to send a letter or e-mail to the MD.’’ But do take a look around before you take what you saw, in its literal sense. For you’ll take not more than a minute to realise that this hotel, the only one at the five-thousand-year-old Indus Valley Civilisation site — Dholavira — has just this signboard to offer. The hotel built at a cost of Rs 1.40 crore to cater to tourists from across the globe, opened in May this year.
There is no reception counter, no furniture, no bed, no gas cylinder, no refrigerator, no utensil, no water and no electricity. The three-member staff at this hotel with 11 non-AC cottages, will still welcome you and make it very clear that per day accommodation charge is Rs 400. Ofcourse, they’ll blatantly tell you that they have no facility.
‘‘We had a cook. But he died recently. We are now three people — myself, a catering supervisor and a waiter. I stay all alone here,’’ says Bhalchandra Mehta, receptionist-cum-telephone operator. Mehta, who’s been suffering from brain tumour, says, ‘‘I’ve served the department for a long time. But never have I felt so bad. It is really painful to tell tourists that we have no facility here. But what can I do? My bosses, right from our Bhuj-based manager to the managing director, know about the sad plight. But they still ask me to continue.’’
He said that a large group of visitors had come down to the hotel last weekend. ‘‘But I told them there is no facility for stay or food,’’ he says.
When contacted, Principal Secretary of State, Tourism, and TCGL chairman R M Patel said that since he did not deal with day-to-day affairs of the corporation, he’ll be contacting the managing director to find out details about the matter. Leader of Dholavira village Velubha Sodha, who is also the former chairman of a district co-operative bank, says, ‘‘This hotel is a mockery of tourism in the State.’’
‘‘Since there was no hotel accommodation in the 100 km area of Dholavira, myself and other villagers had taken a keen interest in the hotel project. We had given representations to the Central and State ministers and urged that the project be completed soon so that it gives tourism in Dholavira, a much-needed boost,’’ says Sodha adding, ‘‘Though the construction of the hotel was completed a year ago, TCGL delayed its inauguration. I was told that it was only when TCGL could not withstand pressure from the Centre, it decided to open this hotel.’’
Gandhidham-based child specialist Rajesh Jeswani, who had visited Dholavira along with his friends for the first time last week says, ‘‘We were greatly disappointed by what we saw. The hotel incharge, Mr Mehta, told us politely about the sad state of affairs. But more than that I was shocked to learn that a TCGL staffer was suffering from pituitary adenoma which had led to a condition termed as acromegaly (deformity of the body). And there being no medical facility available in the area, his condition could deteriorate.’’ Incase you are not satisfied with our services and would like to make suggestions/comments, please do not hesitate to send a letter or e-mail to the MD.’’ But do take a look around before you take what you saw, in its literal sense. For you’ll take not more than a minute to realise that this hotel, the only one at the five-thousand-year-old Indus Valley Civilisation site — Dholavira — has just this signboard to offer. The hotel built at a cost of Rs 1.40 crore to cater to tourists from across the globe, opened in May this year.
There is no reception counter, no furniture, no bed, no gas cylinder, no refrigerator, no utensil, no water and no electricity. The three-member staff at this hotel with 11 non-AC cottages, will still welcome you and make it very clear that per day accommodation charge is Rs 400. Ofcourse, they’ll blatantly tell you that they have no facility.
‘‘We had a cook. But he died recently. We are now three people — myself, a catering supervisor and a waiter. I stay all alone here,’’ says Bhalchandra Mehta, receptionist-cum-telephone operator. Mehta, who’s been suffering from brain tumour, says, ‘‘I’ve served the department for a long time. But never have I felt so bad. It is really painful to tell tourists that we have no facility here. But what can I do? My bosses, right from our Bhuj-based manager to the managing director, know about the sad plight. But they still ask me to continue.’’
He said that a large group of visitors had come down to the hotel last weekend. ‘‘But I told them there is no facility for stay or food,’’ he says.
When contacted, Principal Secretary of State, Tourism, and TCGL chairman R M Patel said that since he did not deal with day-to-day affairs of the corporation, he’ll be contacting the managing director to find out details about the matter. Leader of Dholavira village Velubha Sodha, who is also the former chairman of a district co-operative bank, says, ‘‘This hotel is a mockery of tourism in the State.’’
‘‘Since there was no hotel accommodation in the 100 km area of Dholavira, myself and other villagers had taken a keen interest in the hotel project. We had given representations to the Central and State ministers and urged that the project be completed soon so that it gives tourism in Dholavira, a much-needed boost,’’ says Sodha adding, ‘‘Though the construction of the hotel was completed a year ago, TCGL delayed its inauguration. I was told that it was only when TCGL could not withstand pressure from the Centre, it decided to open this hotel.’’
Gandhidham-based child specialist Rajesh Jeswani, who had visited Dholavira along with his friends for the first time last week says, ‘‘We were greatly disappointed by what we saw. The hotel incharge, Mr Mehta, told us politely about the sad state of affairs. But more than that I was shocked to learn that a TCGL staffer was suffering from pituitary adenoma which had led to a condition termed as acromegaly (deformity of the body). And there being no medical facility available in the area, his condition could deteriorate.’’
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