Centre to exit 3 ITDC hotels, handover stakes to state governments

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved transfer of Hotel Jaipur Ashok, Mysore's Lalitha Mahal Palace, units of India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (ITDC) to government of Rajasthan and government of Karnataka respectively, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Cabinet also approved disinvestment of ITDC'S 51 percent  equity shares in M/s Donyi Polo Ashok Hotel Corporation Ltd., the joint venture company running Donyi Polo Ashok Hotel, Itanagar, in the favour of the government of Arunachal Pradesh.

This is as per disinvestment policy of the government of India, wherein:

- ITDC hotels/properties to be leased/sub leased jointly with the states;

- Where states have not agreed to the proposal of leasing/sub-leasing, the properties may be returned back to the states at their officially valued price;

The policy has been formulated keeping in view that running and managing hotels on professional lines is not the job of government or its entities, an official release said.

The cabinet has also approved rationalisation/merger and modernisation of 17 Government of India Presses (GIPs) into 5 GIPs at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Minto Road and Mayapuri in New Delhi; Nashik and Temple Street, Kolkata.