Viewpoint

ITDC: Future secured?

Rabindra Seth

After almost a decade of ad-hoc appointments, the tourism ministry has finally given its once premier public sector `asset' - ITDC - a chairman and managing director, chosen through laid down procedures. The new incumbent is Pervez Dewan, a 1977 batch IAS officer from J&K cadre. He is no stranger to the hospitality fraternity as he has held a number of positions in the tourism department of the state. If the process of the appointment has been hastened by a push from the new minister, Ambika Soni, as it appears to be, the development deserves to be welcomed as a sign that things are once again moving in the ministry.

It would be appropriate to recall that when the UPA government took charge just two years ago, the public sector enthusiasts among the ruling partners, notably the Congress and the Left, successfully halted any further disinvestment of ITDC Hotels. Shorn of a bulk of its properties, the Corporation was left hanging with Ashok, Samrat, Janpath in Delhi, and a few outside along with duty free shops and the travel and transport division. And, in the absence of a regularly appointed CMD, the corporation could at best wage a battle for survival. The upturn in tourism and the critical shortages of rooms have to some extent helped it in its battles. The new CMD has his work cut out. He must get the government to take a policy decision on the future of ITDC after taking into account the competitive scenario in the hospitality sector.

In the short term, Pervez Dewan has a more urgent challenge. The 50th anniversary of Ashok Hotel which falls due in October. India's first hotel built to international standards and fondly described as `Nehru's baby', the Ashok's half century is replete with historical events in the life of the nation's capital apart from its contribution to setting trends and standards in hoteliering. In an era when pride was taken in slogans of `western style hotel' or `under European management', the Ashok's ascendancy was purely indigenous and its pioneering effort in offering a total Indian experience, be it architecture, decor, cuisine, even dance and music, deserves recognition, praise and recall. The story of the Ashok should rank high along with Jamshed Tata for giving us the Taj Hotel in Mumbai a hundred years ago and the legendary Bai Bahadur Mohansingh Oberoi, who built great hotels not only in India but also took his expertise abroad.

Public memory being proverbially short, few would remember how the Ashok came to be called Nehru's baby. The story needs to be retold. It was in 1955 that India's first minister was in Paris addressing the annual conference of UNESCO. Keen on giving the country international exposure he invited UNESCO to hold its next meeting in Delhi. The invitation was promptly accepted. Concerned aides pointed out to Nehru about the absence of a hotel and convention facility in the capital. Never mind, the prime minister is believed to have said, adding we will built the facilities. Hotels not being part of Nehru's public sector concept of `acquiring the commanding heights of the economy' he offered the project to a consortium of former princes (including Dr Karan Singh, then the young Sadr-e-Riyasat of J&K) but they failed to raise the funds - less than Rs 2 crore. It was then that Nehru decided to make it a government project. Along with came Vigyan Bhavan, at the time Asia's first convention facility. Nehru was often seen at the construction site of the hotel and thus the Ashok was informally christened as Nehru's baby.

An interesting spin-off of the Ashok experiment, according to some observers including this writer, is that it awakened the government to the need for intervention in the tourism industry where the private sector appeared to be either unable or unwilling to invest in hotels and related infrastructure. It was not long after the Ashok made its mark that the India Tourism Development Corporation came into being in 1964. First as three separate entities handling travel lodges, transport and publicity and later merged into one ITDC along with Ashok as its flagship. It was ITDC that opened India to beach tourism at Kovalam and wildlife tourism in far flung Kaziranga. The Ashok in Bangalore was south India's first five-star hotel and the region's first air-conditioned coach was also introduced by this undertaking.

In its halcyon days ITDC was India's largest chain offering a variety of tourist services. But alas the government failed to review its role after it had achieved its part as a catalytic agent in attracting investments into the sector. The rest is history. Only time will tell whether Pervez Dewan can secure a future for whatever remains of ITDC.