Provincial or district government neither has any department nor any rules and regulations for establishing standard hostels and guest houses in ancient city of Multan. However, establishing private hostels for youths and guesthouses are becoming a profitable and attractive business for everyone.
Hostels and guesthouses business in Multan has accommodated many people, particularly miscreants, outlaws and cheaters in the city. These guesthouses and hostels had badly hit the hotel business because hotels are charging 30 to 45 percent taxes on the rent of room and food while guest houses are not charging even a single penny of tax from them besides providing secrecy to the visitors.
According to an owner, there are almost 200 well-known guesthouses & hostels being operated in the city, and accommodating nearly 1,000 people daily. However, there are many unknown hostels that are being run in small areas of Multan on Bosan Road, Gulgasht Colony, and Officers Colony. Many of these hostels are of very low standard, lacking basic facilities coupled with high rent. There are two types of hostels. One, that are established in posh areas. Second are those that are established in the areas where rents are quiet low. Some of these hostels are affiliated with private schools, colleges and universities.
These educational institutions, as a side business have also established their own hostels in different areas of the city. Every hostel & guesthouses have its own rules and regulations, which suit the owners' interest as there is no fixed amount of rent paid by the people living there. Similarly facilities differ too. Sometime these hostels have the same facilities but different rent, for example, some hostels provide its residents with laundry and mess facilities against Rs 2,000 t0 4,500 per month whereas some hostels provide only residence to customers against Rs 3,000 or more.
Mostly, the conditions of hostel buildings are not safe to reside. The hostel owners make partitions in the construction to add more rooms. For such purpose, they use hardboard, wooden chipboard and four inches wall that could fall at any time. But unfortunately there is no check from government side on such hostel buildings and their registration process. Here questions arise as to who will be responsible, if it results in catastrophe?
Meal is also a big problem in such hostels. Hostel owners use two ways to deal with meal to its residents. Firstly, they have their own chef and sometime they lease their kitchen. Then another leasing party comes to earn money from different tactics without observing food safety rules. Using low quality oil, not washing crockery in proper way, and dusty kitchens area are true picture of hostels' kitchens. Neither food inspector nor any department ever bother to check quality of food being served to people living there or whether the building is constructed according to safety rules, is a far cry.
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