Srinagar, Jun 07: The Tourism Department on Tuesday asked the Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association (KHOA) and the houseboat owners to properly insure the heritage assets of the tourism sector.

As per an advisory, it was said that in continuation to this office previous advisory issued vide No. Reg/1143-V/14/DIK dated 05/04/2022 on the subject cited above.

“In this connection it is to reiterate that the Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association and the houseboat owners individually, have been advised to properly insure these heritage assets of the tourism sector, so that in the event of any untoward incident & loss of property, the owners could get at least the sum insured to enable them to repair/reconstruct these properties under rules and do sustain their livelihood. It is astonishing to observe that mostly the houseboat owners have not been paying heed to these advisories,” the advisory said.

“Besides, keeping in view the very high cost of houseboat establishment it is once again enjoined upon the houseboat owners that besides getting their houseboat insured through registered Insurance Companies should also get fire audit conducted by the concerned authorities and install Fire Extinguishers and other fire safety measures as advised by the J&K Fire and Emergency Services Department,” it said.

“It has been decided, that the Directorate of Tourism, Kashmir would make it mandatory at the time of grant of Registration/renewal of registration certificates that the houseboats are properly insured and fire fighting equipment is installed as per norms and as per the NOC issued by the Fire and Emergency Services Department,” the advisory said, adding that this advisory is issued keeping in view the interest of stakeholders and safety of tourists.