The Hindu : Probe ITDC hotels disinvestment: Congress

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Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

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Probe ITDC hotels disinvestment: Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 21. The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) today joined issue with the Vajpayee Government's disinvestment policy, vis-à-vis Centaur Hotel, demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

While the CPI (M) reiterated the demand, the Congress said the inquiry could either be held by the CBI or an independent panel and it should go into the disinvestment of Indian Tourism Development Corporation hotels to find out which "individuals have benefited through it and who got the kickbacks."

The Congress spokesperson, Kapil Sibal, gave a brief account of some public sector hotels sold under the policy and said that in almost all the cases, the price at which they were disposed of were lower than the value. Mr. Sibal demanded that the Vajpayee Government come out with a "transparent policy" on disinvestment.

The CPI (M) Rajya Sabha leader, Nilotpal Basu, today wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, demanding a CBI probe. Referring to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General he said a loss of Rs. 145 crores had occurred through the sale of the Centaur Hotel to Batra Hospitality. The hotel was re-sold to an airlines company at a premium of Rs. 35 crores.

Mr. Basu said that while the Disinvestment Minister had questioned the methodology adopted by the CAG, he did not say why the re-sale was made notwithstanding an express clause in the sale agreement between the Hotel Corporation and Batra Hospitality that neither any benefit nor burden under the pact be assigned by either party without the prior written consent of the other.

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