Meghwal faces a divestment problem next door
BMS threatens to protest outside his home if Centre sells off Hotel Janpath
Arjun Ram Meghwal, minister of state for finance, is the minister in-charge for disinvestment of public-sector undertakings. He lives at 20 Windsor Place in New Delhi. The Narendra Modi government has listed five India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) hotels for disinvestment. Hotel Janpath is one of them and right opposite Meghwal’s bungalow.
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), a Sangh Parivar affiliate, has now threatened daily protests by the 500-odd hotel employees if Meghwal’s department goes ahead with the plans to sell off the hotel situated just 200 metres from Connaught Place and 100 metres from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road.
Meghwal is the minister in charge for department of investment and public asset management, the new avatar of erstwhile department of disinvestment. Of the three ITDC hotels in Delhi, the government has decided to retain Ashoka and Samrat hotels and has listed Hotel Janpath for disinvestment.
On Wednesday, the BMS shot off two letters to Meghwal to demand that the government review its decision to sell off Hotel Janpath.
BMS claimed that Hotel Janpath has been a profit-making unit ever since its inception 50 years ago. It said that in the last financial year, the hotel’s net profit after tax stood at ~8.32 crore.
It recommended several measures to augment the hotel’s profitability.
The union blamed the current losses on the fact that 100 guest rooms of the hotel have been shut down for want of renovation since May 2016.
The union said the renovation would require no more than ~10 crore, while the loss is ~97.5 lakh a month.
The union said 27,000 sq ft of commercial space of the hotel is lying unused for the past five years "because of lack of independence of decision-making with the unit management". It said new customers are being turned away because of the uncertainty over disinvestment. It also accused the management of 'pathetic work culture' as tenders for milk, eggs, ice cream and charcoal have not been finalised for at least the past three years. It has also alleged that corrupt officers have been let off as they "either bribed their superiors or exercised political clout".
The hotel has 120 permanent employees. All-India ITDC Workers Federation of BMS-led Unions' GeneralSecretary Rakesh Bhanot said the hotel can post a profit of ~15-20 crore a year. "This will save hundreds of employees and their families from getting ruined and restore the public faith in Modi's good governance," Bhanot said.
Another letter reminded the minister that Jagmohan, the tourism minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, had proposed a blueprint to revive Hotel Janpath. Given its prime location, the minister had suggested it be made into Paryatan Bhavan to house offices of central and state government tourism outfits.
The BMS has also written to the minister that Modi, in interviews before he became the PM, had repeatedly opposed disinvestment of public-sector units, and argued that employees be taken into confidence and given opportunity to turn around the business.
"We will protest the government's move to disinvest in Hotel Janpath," said BMS organising-secretary Pawan Kumar.