Indian Railways has decided to put on hold its plan to construct budget hotels apparently because of a turf war between two of its bodies and lack of progress in finalizing the proposal of building world class stations.Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) had earlier decided to set up 100 budget hotels near railway stations across the country on public private partnership (PPP) model under which railways was to provide land and the private players were to build, operate and pay a share of revenue to the railways.Out of 100 hotel sites, tenders for 20 sites were finalised and awarded to successful bidders by IRCTC in February this year.However, till date, the private players have neither got any land nor their design and layout plans for hotels have been approved yet."We have decided to put it on hold for the time being. There are some issues to be addressed before any decision is taken on the budget hotel project," a senior railway ministry official said.While the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a newly constituted body set up to develop surplus railway land, has staked its claim to handle the project, the IRCTC is refusing to part with it."Since we have conceptualised the project and handled it till now, how come we will hand it over to a new body now unless we are compelled to do it?" said a senior IRCTC official involved with the project.
