TENDER OUT: Those on the sale list include Ujjain’s Hotel Avantika and Pili Kothi in Umariya
Once known for its advertisements promoting tourism in the state, Madhya Pradesh tourism department has now issued global tenders to sell seven big hotels including Bhopal's well-known Ashoka Lake View to deal with an acute cash crunch in its treasury.
The situation is so bad that the state tourism minister Surendra Singh Baghel has to call for feedback from visiting tourist. The department has also planned to rent heritage sites in the state for marriage celebrations during the upcoming marriage season to fill its coffers. Proceeds from this are one of the few options left for the department.
According to Baghel, the previous government exploited the tourism corporation and is the reason for the stress in its coffers. "We are making every effort to deal with this mess and we are also talking to small tourist operators in the city," said Baghel.
LEASE POLICY
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| Back in 2016, a provision was made in the tourism policy to place hotels in private hands under the condition that the company taking the hotel will operate it and pay the lease money annually to the government |
However, this is not the first time private players have been roped in by the department. In 2016, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government gave many state-owned hotels and motels like those in Datia, Neemuch, Khajuraho, Katni and Pipariya to private operators.
It had then made a provision in the state tourism policy to place hotels in private hands under the condition that the company taking the hotel will operate it and pay the lease money annually to the government. Any violation of the agreement will lead to the hotel being taken back by the tourism development corporation. Those now on the list to be sold include Ujjain's Hotel Avantika, Pili Kothi in Umariya and a tourist motel in Mandla.
Former tourism minister Umashankar Gupta blamed the crisis on the current dispensation saying, "No one will benefit from privatization except the builders who want to earn money from the business. So there is a plan to sell the hotels. Even we were left a broke tourism department by the previous Digvijay Singh government."
Zee Media Newsroom
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