New Delhi: As part of the disinvestment exercise, the Centre on Wednesday decided to exit three ITDC hotels including Jaipur Ashok and hand them over to the state governments concerned.
The cabinet also approved merger and modernisation of 17 Government of India Presses (GIPs) into five entities at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Minto Road and Mayapuri in New Delhi, Nashik in Maharashtra and Temple Street in Kolkata.
The five presses are to be redeveloped and modernised through monetisation of their surplus land.
The Cabinet Committee on CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the transfer of India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (ITDC) hotels Jaipur Ashok and Lalitha Mahal Palace Mysore to the governments of Rajasthan and Karnataka.
It also cleared disinvestment of ITDC’s 51 per cent equity in Donyi Polo Ashok, Itanagar, in favour of Arunachal Pradesh.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that as per valuations, the Jaipur property would fetch the Centre Rs 14 crore, Mysore Rs 7.45 crore and Itanagar Rs 3.89 crore. 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 ministry of tourism has to date transferred the properties or units of Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal; Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati and Hotel Bharatpur Ashok, Bharatpur to the state governments concerned.
In another decision, the Union Cabinet also approved rationalisation of 17 GIPs by merging them into five units.
“Cabinet approves rationalisation/merger and modernisation of 17 GIPs into 5 at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Minto Road and Mayapuri in New Delhi, Nashik in Maharashtra and Temple Street in Kolkata,” said an official statement.
Modernisation of presses will help them take confidential and multi-colour printing work of union government ffices across the country, added the statement .
The five presses are to be redeveloped and modernised through monetisation of their surplus land. The exchequer cost will be “zero” as well as without any retrenchment and employees will be absorbed, Mr Jaitley informed. Under the approval, 468 acres of land belonging to these units that are to be merged will go to the Land & Development Office of the Ministry of Urban Development.
