Government Begins Disinvestment Of ITDC In Earnest, 3 Hotels To Be Divested To States

As part of the disinvestment exercise, the Centre today (20 Septembr) decided to exit three India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC)-run hotels including Jaipur Ashok and handover them to the state governments concerned.

The Union Cabinet approved the transfer of Hotel Jaipur Ashok and Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel, Mysore, to the governments of Rajasthan and Karnataka, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

It also cleared disinvestment of ITDC’s 51 per cent equity in Donyi Polo Ashok, Itanagar, in favour of Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley said that as per valuation the Jaipur property would fetch the Centre Rs 14 crore, Mysore Rs 7.45 crore and Itanagar Rs 3.89 crore This is as per disinvestment policy of the Government of India wherein ITDC Hotels and properties are to be leased or sub-leased jointly with states, he said.

The policy has been formulated in line with the view that running and managing hotels is not the job of the government or its entities.

A union government is saying what needed to be said: running hotels is not the government's job.

With inputs from PTI and ANI