The Hindu : Business : Bharat Hotels takes control of GE Hotel

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Thursday, Dec 01, 2005

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Business

Bharat Hotels takes control of GE Hotel

Special Correspondent

An eight-member board has been constituted

KOLKATA: The Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Hotels, Lalit Suri, on Wednesday handed over a draft of Rs. 52 crore to the West Bengal Government soon after paying a visit to the 165-year-old heritage hotel which he bagged tipping two others in the race.

Talking to The Hindu later, he said he found the hotel to be in a bad shape with most of the structures weakened. However, he assured that best efforts would be made to retain the façade and reopen at least a part of the hotel by December 2006.

Mr. Suri's entry, along with his team, took place in the backdrop of a fresh round of workers' agitation. Members of the Indian National Trade Union Congress shouted slogans demanding that their severance pay be met first. The government has said that it expected to complete this part of the deal shortly. Mr. Suri maintained that this was a matter between the government and the workers. An eight -member board has also been constituted with Mr. Suri as Chairman and his wife as Managing Director. There would be a legal expert and a West Bengal Government representative on the board. Wednesday's deal was for handing over of 90 per cent of the equity stake of the government, which would retain ten per cent of the holding for three years. Mr. Suri also met the Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, later during the day in what was described as a courtesy call.

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