Yog Raj Sharma
The North News
Shimla, July 11
Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) Chairman RS Bali has strongly criticised the state government’s decision to lease out 14 loss-making hotels, calling the move premature and factually uninformed. Speaking to reporters, Bali said that the government had bypassed the Board of Directors (BoD) of HPTDC, which had earlier requested a financial viability study of these hotels before taking any such step. “The government decided to outsource the hotels without waiting for the study report. This decision must be reviewed,” he said.
Bali clarified that while these hotel units are currently operating at a loss, the Corporation never asked the government to lease them out. He claimed the decision was made unilaterally and insisted that the condition of the hotels could still be improved and made profitable through proper intervention. “The Corporation had initiated a process to seek expert consultation to assess the financial feasibility of these units. Outsourcing them before that process is completed is not appropriate,” Bali added.
He also pointed out that in the last two and a half years, HPTDC has not received a single rupee in financial assistance from the government. “If the government provides grants, these hotels can be revived, and the Corporation could even construct new hotels,” he said.
Bali appealed to the government to reconsider its decision after reviewing the expert report, emphasising that HPTDC, though owned by the state, should not be bypassed in such crucial policy decisions.
