Janpath Hotel May Be Turned Into Convention Centre

The iconic Janpath Hotel in the heart of the national capital is set to check out, with the government deciding to transfer the property to the urban development ministry for converting into something more useful. Earlier analysis by the government found the prime property “unserviceable, in distressed condition and deficit in the context of seismic requirements”.

The land on which the hotel exists belongs to the urban development ministry, and had been given on lease to the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). Several other ITDC properties are on the government's disinvestment list. Only last month, the Union Cabinet decided to exit from three other ITDC hotels in Bharatpur, Bhopal and Guwahati--a move that was part of the government's Rs 72,500-crore disinvestment plan for the financial year 2017-18.

According to the official website, the ITDC currently has a network of eight Ashok Group of Hotels, six joint-venture Hotels, two restaurants (including one Airport Restaurant), 12 transport units, one tourist service station, 37 duty-free shops at international and domestic customs airports, one tax-free outlet and two sound and light show centres.

The prime tag

Spread over a four-acre plot, the 150-room ITDC property at Lutyens' Delhi lies only two kilometres from the Rashtrapati Bhavan and six km from Connaught Place, Delhi's central business district. The hotel is located close to two other five-star hotels, Le Meridien and Shangri-La. While the New Delhi Railway Station is nine kms from here, the Indira Gandhi International Airport is 15 kms away. The Janpath Metro Station, on the other hand, is 500 metres from here. However, the prime location did not help the hotel much and has been a burden on the government exchequer. For similar reasons, the previous NDA government sold ITDC properties such as Ashok Yatri Niwas and Kanishka in 2004.

As is true of most high-end hotels, each room in the hotel is air-conditioned, has a cable TV, a refrigerator, etc. Among the many other services, the hotel provides its guests an all-day multi-cuisine restaurant, and free Wi-Fi services and parking services.

What happens now?

While a panel of secretaries headed by the Cabinet secretary will soon be set up to work out the final details, “the property can be considered for construction of government offices and similar purposes, which would save government funds spent in hiring of government offices," says an official release. However, there is a possibility of the hotel building being turned into a convention centre to host international events.

This is because apart from Vigyan Bhavan and Ashok Hotel (both the properties are managed by the ITDC), there is a short supply of facilities that can host big government events. However, the government is already developing two such facilities, one at Pragati Madian and another Dwarka (plans still on the drawing board).

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