Centre to handover 3 ITDC hotels to state governments

The Union Cabinet has approved the transfer of Hotel Jaipur Ashok and the Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysore, belonging to India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (ITDC), to the government of Rajasthan and the government of Karnataka, respectively.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the cabinet also approved divestment of ITDC'S 51 per cent  equity in Donyi Polo Ashok Hotel Corporation Ltd., the joint venture company running Donyi Polo Ashok Hotel, Itanagar, to the government of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave its approval to the transfer of these hotels as per disinvestment policy of the government.

These properties will be given on lease/sub-lease jointly with the states and where states have not agreed to the proposal of leasing/sub-leasing, the properties may be returned back to the states at their officially valued price.

This is in line with the government's policy that running and managing hotels on professional lines is not the job of government or its entities. This is also in line with the government's divestment policy.

As per the government's disinvestment policy, the ministry of tourism has to date transferred the properties of Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal, Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati, Hotel Bharatpur Ashok, Bharatpur to the concerned state governments.

In addition, 'in principle' approval for transfer of Hotel Janpath, New Delhi to ministry of urban development has also been approved by the CCEA.