Chief Minister is the supreme boss (chairman) of the HPTDC and nothing can be done without his knowledge. Normally. chairman consent is taken even in an ordinary matter or he is apprised of. All policy decisions ae taken after Chairman approval. So, its hard to believe that chief minister was not apprised of the move , especially at a time when serious efforts are being made to attract investors. And if the move has been initiated without chairman knowledge, its serious matter amid chief minister's global trotting for attracting investors to the state.
Anyway, the Chail Palace is well known for its architecture. It was built as summer retreat by the Maharaja of Patiala during the British Raj, on the land allotted to him by the British for helping them in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The Palace Hotel in it was purchased in 1972 by the Himachal govt and converted into a heritage hotel. Its a pity that govt owned tourism board couldn't run this prime heritage site profitably.
The Golf Glade at Naldehra is a fascinating site perched on the edge of the Golf Course at Naldehra. It was once a rest house but later handed over to HPTDC and converted into a hotel with some log huts. Last month. in happened to stay there for two days. Some works were going on and it wasn't humming with tourists. Even, its internal communication network wasn't working. Room services were poor. It was almost empty. As I noticed some loud voices during the dead night, inquired about and was told that siblings of some VVIP had come, stayed for the night and gone early in the morning.I bet they would have not paid for the services as is the VVIP's wont. Waiter kept silent on being asked.
One of the main reasons for HPTDC units runing into losses is the " mufatkhor VIPs". Most of them don't pay for the services and food. HPTDC-run "Ashiana" restruant and Holiday Home in Shimla, regularly serve " Murgh Musallam" and other cuisines to VVIPs free of cost. Milk, butter and "ghee"
are supplied free by state run Milk Federation to VVIPs and Juices, Jam-Jellies and other fruit based drinks by HPMC.
All in all, its not a bad move. Running commercial business with "profit motive' is none of the govt business in a welfare state. Its more murkier in a country where political interference, corruption, policy paralysis and favoritism are order of the day. Figures speaks for themselves. Out of total 23 public sector enterprises, 15 are running into losses year-by-year. As per available data, till March, 2018, the cumulative losses was more than 5000 crore. Out of these 15,the total accumulated losses of ten PSUs sttod at Rs 3,630 crore till March 31, 2018. HRTC and State Power Board (HPSEB) are the biggest loss-making PSUs but it is beyond anybody comprehension how come that HP Financial Corporation- primarily a lender- is in loss. It was having a net loss of Rs 166.35 crore till 2018. Apparently,, political interference for lending without viability has landed this PSU into a loss making unit.
Sadly. No government hasn't been able to wind these loss making PSUs due to pressure from the employees. Its the vote bank politics weakening the state financial health. So, the only way to come out of this messy affairs is to lease them out to private players so that govt can recover its money. Let the HPTDC take initiative and chief minister should back it. State poor financial position doesn't allow to sustain more and more losses. Why should common man pay for political expediency?