The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Kerala House Hotel Complex in Chennai

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Sunday, Jun 03, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala House Hotel Complex in Chennai

Staff Reporter

V.S. Achuthanandan to lay the foundations on June 5

Thiruvananthapuram: The State-owned Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), which owns the largest chain of hotels in the State, will construct a 91-room Kerala House Hotel Complex in Chennai at a cost of Rs.20 crore.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will lay the foundations for the complex, which will come up in 55 cents of land owned by the KTDC on Greames Road, Chennai, on June 5. Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy will be the chief guest. Minister for Home and Tourism Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will preside over the function. Chennai Mayor M.A. Subramaniam; Tourism Secretary V. Venu; KTDC chairman Cherian Philip; managing director K.G. Mohanlal; Tourism Director Sanjay M. Kaul; will be among others who will attend the ceremony scheduled at 10.30 a.m.

The nine-storey hotel, in Kerala architecture, will have an auditorium and restaurants. Of the 91 rooms in the hotel complex, 10 will be reserved for Ministers and officials from Kerala who will arrive in Chennai for official work.

The 3,000 sq ft auditorium will be made available for Malayali organisations working in Chennai and for marriages of Keralites at concessional rates, according to the KTDC chairman.

``All necessary permits and sanction, including that of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, have been received for the project. The work will be completed in two years,'' Mr. Mohanlal said.

Mr. Philip said a section of the people who tried to grab the prime land owned by the KTDC had raised objections against the project. The Tamil Nadu High Court had already dismissed a petition in this regard, he said.

It is for the first time that the public sector undertaking is setting up a hotel property outside of Kerala. At present, the corporation owns eight premium hotels and resorts in major tourist destinations in the State in addition to eight budget hotels, six Yatri Nivas and 50 beer parlours.

Hotel opposed

Special Correspondent writes from Kozhikode:

The Confederation of Tami Nadu Malayalee Associations (CTMA) has appealed to the Chief Minister to abandon the move to build the hotel complex in Chennai.

M. Nanda Govind, president, and P.V. Balan, general secretary of the Confederation, said in a statement released in Kozhikode on Saturday that the decision to build a star hotel on the land was against the promise made by the Minister for Home and Tourism that the building that would come up on the land would be one that would be useful to all. The previous United Democratic Front government had agreed in principle to the long-standing demand of Malayalis in Chennai for a cultural centre on this piece of land.

``By deciding to construct a hotel complex, the Government has missed a golden opportunity to put up a structure with the collective support of Malayalis across the world," the statement said.

What the Malayalis in Chennai were fervently hoping for was a structure similar to the Max Mueller Bhavan, the Russian Cultural Centre, or Alliance Francaise that would represent and promote the culture of the place they belonged. A numbers of representations raising this demand were given to the Chief Minister and the Home Minister.

Chennai now have no facility to provide information to the thousands of Malayalis reaching the city for treatment, employment and education. The lack of a venue for staging Kerala's art and cultural art forms was also felt. It was such a facility that the Confederation of Tamil Nadu Malayalee Association had sought from the State Government.

The confederation leaders said there were widespread apprehensions that the star hotel would be handed over to the private sector later. "Which is why the State Government should give up its proposed hotel venture," they said

The Confederation of Tamil Nadu Malayalee Association was formed 16 years ago and represents 70-odd associations of Malayalis in Tamil Nadu.

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