CM irked, nod not taken to lease HPTDC hotels

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 25

The issues of offering 14 properties of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) to private players and tea tourism seem to have erupted into a big controversy with the government removing the brochure from the Rising Himachal Global Investors’ Meet portal.

Also read: HP offers 14 prime hotels, including at Chail, for lease

Sources said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had taken a serious note of the issue as neither his consent was taken, nor was he taken into confidence on such a sensitive issue. The CM, who left for Delhi today to attend the cremation of BJP leader Arun Jaitley, on his return chaired a high-level meeting to find out how this was offered when the laws did not permit it.

Interestingly, while the brochures of all seven focus sectors of agriculture, health and wellness, pharmaceuticals, hydropower, housing and urban development, education and information technology are being flashed on the Rising Himachal Global Investors Meet portal, the tourism document has been removed from the portal.

It was only once the issue was highlighted by The Tribune that the CM and other high-ranking officers got a whiff of the disinvestment proposal. The CM is learnt to have summoned Chief Secretary BK Agarwal to discuss the issue. “The officials are trying to wash their hands off the issue by putting the entire blame on Ernst and Young, which are the knowledge partner of the Global Investors Meet scheduled to be held in Dharamsala,” revealed a source. The CM has been told that it was Ernst and Young which prepared the document.

With the monsoon session on, the issue is bound to echo in the Assembly. Congress leaders Mukesh Agnihotri and Sujanpur MLA Rajinder Rana have come down heavily on the BJP regime for bartering the interests of the state. “The disinvestment proposal of the HPTDC and offering tea gardens in Kangra and Mandi for tourism against the land laws is only vindication of the allegation of “Himachal on Sale,” said Agnihotri.

Blame game

• Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said neither his consent was taken, nor was he taken into confidence on such a sensitive issue
• The CM chaired a high-level meeting to find out how this was offered when the laws did not permit it
• The CM has been told that it was E&Y which prepared the document