Kashmir House: A heritage property govt wants to hand over to pvt players

The state government has recently offered 14 properties of the Himachal Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), including Kashmir House at Dharamsala and Hotel Uhal at Jogindernagar, to private players on lease. A notification to this effect has already been issued by the government.

A heritage property, hotel Kashmir House is situated in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges. It was built by Lala Amar Nath Sood in 1935 and later purchased by Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir. He later sold it to the Punjab government when Kangra was part of Punjab.

After reorganisation of states in 1966, Kashmir House was handed over to the Himachal Pradesh government. When Virbhadra Singh took over the reins of state in 1980s, he transferred the property to the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) to run it as a hotel.

Hotel Uhal in Jogindernagar is also one of the oldest properties of the HPTDC constructed when Dr YS Parmar was Chief Minister and Himachal was a Union Territory. This prime property is situated on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway near Shanan power house.

The state government says most of these properties are in the red, making losses year after year. However, it is strongly felt that these must not be offered to private players as these have the potential to be developed into prime hotels.

Instead of offering these units to private players, HPTDC should run these hotels, as these have a large area with immense scope for expansion. The properties can be turned into profit making hotels if these are renovated with additional investment.

The opposition BJP and HPTDC Employees Union have already raised serious questions on the disinvestment plan of the state government. “We have an example right before us of losing out the biggest money-spinner Hotel Wildflower Hall at Mashobra to the Oberoi group. The state government fought a legal battle for 29 years and spent lakhs to take back Wildflower Hall,” a bureaucrat said.

The corridors of power are abuzz with talks that the conditions for leasing out HPTDC units have been reportedly tailormade to suit some private players. “There is no final decision on leasing out these HPTDC properties even as most of these have been in losses for many years,” said a minister in the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government.

Himachal Tribune