IGNCA issues notice to hotel group

“We have come to know that the hotel group has been making claims on its website that are in violation of the MoU it has signed with us. We have therefore sent them a notice asking them to explain,” IGNCA joint secretary V B Pyarelal said. He did not specify what were the violations apart from the rents.

Pyarelal said provision for a guest house was included in the original building plan. The idea was to have a decent boarding facility for scholars and academics coming to the IGNCA for their research work. But since IGNCA did not have any expertise in running a guest house,it decided to give it to a private party.

“We had earlier approached the ITDC (India Tourism Development Corporation) and the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) but their offers were not good. We then had to invite a private party through a transparent bidding process. This is not meant to be like other commercial interests,” Pyarelal said,quoting the MoU.

The MoU,however,does not explicitly debar the hotel operator from renting its rooms to the general public. It does prevent it from letting the hotel host marriage or birthday parties,or any other function that is likely to create noise,or any activity that IGNCA objects to. IGNCA maintained that the hotel had not started its operations and no guests had stayed there till now.

Sources in the IGNCA said the hotel was part of the institution’s plans to raise its revenue. They claimed that the Trust that governs IGNCA had last year decided to take steps to increase its revenue on its own.

The Culture Ministry said it was not in the picture since the IGNCA was an autonomous body and managed its own affairs. “If there is any misgiving,we are confident that the IGNCA will quickly take remedial action,” Culture Secretary Jawhar Sircar said.

Sometime back,the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA),a strategic thinktank funded entirely by the Defence Ministry,had also faced criticism for involving a private firm to run ‘IDSA-Residency Hotel’.