Meghwal faces a disinvestment problem next door

BMS threatens to protest outside the minister's home if govt sells off New Delhi's Hotel Janpath

Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal is the minister in-charge of disinvestment of public sector undertakings (PSUs). He lives at 20, Windsor Place, in New Delhi. The Narendra Modi government has listed five India Tourism Development Corporation, or 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 hotel employees, all 500 of them, 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 (BJP)'s national headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road.

Meghwal is the minister in charge for DIPAM, or Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, the new avatar of the erstwhile Departmnet 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.

The BMS claimed that Hotel Janpath has been a profit making unit ever since its inception 50-years back. It said that in the last financial year, the hotel's net profit after tax stood at Rs 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 that the renovation would require no more than Rs 10 crore, while the loss is Rs 97.5 lakh per month.

The union said that 27,000 square foot of commercial space of the hotel is lying unused for the last five years "because of lack of independence of decision making with the unit management". It said that 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 last 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 a total of 500 employees, including nearly 120 permanent employees. Rakesh Bhanot, general secretary of All India ITDC Workers Federation of BMS-led Unions, said that the hotel can post a profit of Rs 15 to 20 crore a year. "This will save hundreds of employees and their families from getting ruined and restore the public's faith in Modiji's good governance," Bhanot said.

Another letter reminded the minister that Jagmohan, the tourism minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, had proposed a blueprint to revive Hotel Janpath. Given its prime location, the minister had suggested it be made into Paryatan Bhawan to house offices of central and state government tourism outfits. Hotel Janpath is barely 200 metres from Connaught Place.

The BMS has also written to the minister that Modi, in interviews before he became the prime minister, had repeatedly opposed disinvestment of PSUs, and argued that employees be taken into confidence and given an opportunity to turn around the business.

"We will protest the government's move to disinvest in Hotel Janpath," BMS organising secretary Pawan Kumar said.