‘Limited to 15 hotels closed by previous government’ JAIPUR: After committing to revive the hotels of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation RTDC ), the Congress government is contemplating to lease out 15 hotels closed by the previous BJP government for the same purpose.In a letter on January 29, 2019, RTDC has written to the registration and stamps department in Ajmer and top officials of the hotels to get the valuation of properties done in seven days and determine the current market price as a first step for leasing.A top official in RTDC confirmed the decision of the government but said the process is at a very initial stage and all the stakeholders, including the employees’ union, will be taken into confidence before laying out a detailed plan.“By closing the hotels, the previous BJP government has almost killed any possibility of reviving the 15 hotels. They tried to hand over the properties to people who are close to them. As there was opposition to the move, they failed to carry out their shady plan. This government will take everybody along before finalizing the strategy and the whole exercise will be done in total transparency,” said an RTDC official on condition of anonymity.He said the exercise would be limited to the 15 hotels closed by the previous BJP government on November 2, 2017, mainly because they cannot be revived by the government from a ‘near-death’ situation as it would require huge resources.“These hotels are out of business for close to one-and-a-half years and have lost market presence. The hotel industry has become very competitive. To revive these hotels, the department needs huge amounts of money and it is impossible for the debt-ridden RTDC to mobilise resources,” he added.However, the employees’ union of RTDC is adamant on opposing any move to lease out these hotels which they succeeded in doing last time as well.“Barring a couple of hotels, all of them do have a business case. They should give us a chance to run them. Leasing out is the easiest way out. The government should work out a plan and it is quite possible to restructure and revive them. If the government wants to lease out or sell, they can do so with the 27 properties that had never become operational. We will fight tooth and nail any unjust decision made by the government for leasing out the hotels,” said Tej Singh Rathore, president of RTDC’s employees’ union.After coming to power, the Vasundhara Raje-led government had appointed PDCOR to restructure the operations of RTDC hotels and turn around the loss-making corporation as part of its disinvestment plan.Thereafter, a series of measures were initiated to cut the losses. One of the two main decisions was to sell and lease out the hotels. If some property failed to attract investors, it was left to RTDC to run them. The second decision was to send the RTDC staff employed in hotels on reverse deputation.While 15 hotels were identified and closed, the process of leasing out or selling failed to happen. Close to 200 employees in these hotels were sent on reverse deputation. But the prime objective of reducing losses became more challenging than before as losses clocked by RTDC ballooned to over Rs 100 crore.

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