Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) or Kumaon Mandal Nikrishth (Worst) Nigam

The trip was planned in September 2008.

We planned our holidays and charted an itinerary for our trip to Uttranchal. The trip was good. I enjoyed it because it was preplanned, but one should read the following review if they are planning to go the hill stations nearby.

Our route was Kathgodam-Almora-Dhaulchina-bagehswar-chakouri-kausani-Ranikhet-bhimtal-kathgodam.

Instead of Binsar, we planned a visit to Dhaulchina. I called Mr.Kesar Mehra and immediately I was given a price of 1200 Rs/day for the off season. This he later changed to 600 Rs/day for a couple. KMVN resorts were planned through Mr.Negi from KMVN office in tourist hotel Jaipur. The money was paid in advance as usual.

If there is any antagonism from my side; then please forgive me. I am going to review the whole trip from a critic’s viewpoint.

The first discrepancy started with IRCTC. The railway authorities told us that train will not go to Kathgodam and that our reservation is till Ramnagar only. It was sheer chance that I knew where Ramnagar was located or else they could have sent us to Itanagar (Just joking). We were told that train changes from Ramnagar in two separate directions. So the itinerary we planned crashed at level one.

We reached Ramnagar and hired a taxi (Tavera) from there. It was priced at 1700Rs/day without petrol. We bargained but it was finally agreed on 1600 Rs/day. Please remember that you should not hire a maruti for the same. Though it is super cheap but maruti is not a good vehicle for hill station rides.

We first went to Ranikhet. We were in two pairs and were having children of 3to 4years as well. Sudden changes in plan, heavy rainfall and cold winds dampened our cheerfulness. We reached Ranikhet by evening. Everyone was exhausted but I am a born nature lover. So I took out my camera and went out for photography. In fact I photographed till night until I felt like going for a sleep.

 

 

Yeah, I forgot to tell you about the food and the staff. There is no proper staff at any of the KMVN resorts during this time of the year (Do not know about other time of year). The staff is mostly rude and very kind to government personal. They do not listen to anything and guest does not matter to them. The food served to us was carrying stale rice and totally tasteless “Daal fry”. We did not eat anything for it was very disgusting. They mostly serve rice which is stale or improperly cooked. It is attached with a watery solution of bottle gourd or better known as “Ghiya”.

Next day we visited Ranikhet and we had our food at a famous restaurant downtown. We also visited military museum and visited the local market. I saw chestnuts for the first time in my life.

Next day we were planning to go to Dhaulchina. There is a very nice and cozy property belonging to Mr.Kesari Singh in Dhaulchina. Please remember that if you are planning a very luxurious trip then I would not recommend it. There are many luxurious resorts and hotel properties in Uttrakhand, you can book them directly through their respective websites or websites like Holiday IQ or Clear trip.

The food offered by the kitchen is home cooked with very homely flavors. The staff is good and helpful. We were given a local guide to visit nearby places. We also visited Ma.Ananmayi Ashram.

Chakouri is heaven as far as place is concerned. But we are not here to talk about good things; we are here to give you the real pictures of the place. The staff is mostly drunk. Talking about the food, it is the same stale rice with a topping of match sticks. Yes, the rice plate carried match stick in it. So I refused to eat on that day.

 

We have some local cucumber, butter and bread (The white one, you cannot get the brown one over there). It was a breakfast like thing at the time of dinner. Next day we choose very nice restaurant in the local town and later used it for two days.

This is just the starting of how KMVN deal with its clients. Whatever I am telling you here is absolute truth.

But my main motive of the story was incidents in BHIMTAL KMVN resort.

Bhimtal resort manager was fully drunk. We expected this as we were already accustomed to this behavior during our previous stay at various KMVN resorts. He was so drunk that he could barely speak anything. It took him one hour to understand that we were guests over there. There is a very good restaurant opposite to BHIMTAL KMVN. We have already decided to have our food there.

Next day we realized the kind of the work been followed by the government run hotel industry. An I.A.S officer came to stay at the hotel next day. He was in his mid-sixties and his ambassador carried a red light on top. There were two cars actually. I was taking some photographs and I realized that he had no luggage with him. This raised some suspicion in my mind but I just curbed my Sherlock Holmes spirit.

Later on in the evening while we came back from dinner, we were going to our respective rooms when I saw that somebody was coming out of the adjacent room and as soon he/she saw us, the person backed off and closed the door. I entered my room, but did not close the door. Then I looked out and found a lady running away in the lobby. She just left the same room where that I.A.S was staying. Please do not take it as a love affair. It was not. This resort serves as a brothel for government officials and the manager knew all this. In fact the officer was served very special food which was specially cooked for him. For guests they have got the same stale rice.

This is the reality of all KMVN resorts except the one at Kausani. The manager is very fluent and intelligent. He also informed us about the restaurants in the area and he was very polite and good. The resort is well maintained.

BHIMTAL,CHAKOURI,CHINIANOULA are worst properties of KMVN. There is no proper staff and the one who are there are either rude or incredibly stupid.

I will not recommend such government properties for stay. Especially I will never recommend KMVN resorts to anyone.

 

Alok Jagawat