Renuka rules out divestment

Union Tourism Minister Renuka Chaudhary has slammed the brakes on disinvestment of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and laid ou...

Union Tourism Minister Renuka Chaudhary has slammed the brakes on disinvestment of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and laid out a roadmap for its turnaround.

For starters, Chaudhary has declared the ITDC’s jewel in the crown, the sprawling Ashok Hotel in Delhi, will not be sold and will remain with ITDC. ‘‘We will turn the Ashok into a state-of-the-art hotel as it is one of the best properties in the Capital today with its fine architecture and design. We will turn it around and make it a symbol of national pride,’’ says Chaudhary.

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‘‘After I am ready with the Ashok, I will ensure that all visiting Presidents and Prime Ministers book into an Ashok suite rather than in a private hotel. After all, as the government, we are the official host to international visitors.’’

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Other takeover projects include the Janpath Hotel, part of the bunch of hotels in line to be sold. Chaudhary plans to convert the drab but prestigiously located Janpath Hotel into Tourism Bhavan — a one-stop shop for hotel bookings, travel reservations, tour operators and Government tourist departments.

The Tourism Ministry will also hold on to Lalita Mahal, Mysore, and Samrat Hotel, Delhi, as they are profit-making hotels. Perhaps, the only two hotels Chaudhary is planning to sell off are the loss-making ones in Jaipur and Bhubaneswar.

Chaudhary seems to have been convinced by ITDC officials that the remaining eight hotels can make a profit. They claim to have made a Rs 2-crore profit packet in Ashok last year.

The sell-off of ITDC hotels began four years ago. The now defunct Disinvestment Ministry managed to sell 18 hotel properties and one hotel on long-lease-cum-management agreement, netting Rs 444.09 crore. But Chaudhary is miffed the money did not go to the Tourism Ministry. ‘‘It is unfortunate the Government kept it instead of putting it in the ministry’s kitty,’’ says Chaudhary.

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Hotel Ashok in Varanasi went for Rs 2.19 crore and the opposition cried foul, saying the price was determined by account books and not by its prime location. The NDA was also accused of favouring cronies (BJP ally and hotelier Lalit Suri bagged three properties).