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164-yrs old heritage hotel to be shut down

The communist-run state government of West Bengal has closed a colonial-era hotel and is seeking a buyer as it tries to shed loss-making assets. The 164-year-old Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata, the former capital of colonial India once known as Calcutta, is just the latest state-run firm to be closed and put up for sale.

Yet the communists, who lend vital support to the federal coalition government, oppose any efforts to sell stakes in profitable state-run firms at the national level. The indebted federal government had plans to sell equity in some companies to raise $6 billion to fund projects for the poor, only to be thwarted by its communist allies.

The West Bengal government, while closing the Great Eastern on Saturday, said it cannot afford to subsidise its annual losses of up to Rs 40 million ($909,100)."The communists are not against restructuring and reforms in the loss-making units either at the federal or state level," said West Bengal's Industry Minister, Nirupam Sen.

The Gothic-style hotel was used by the British to lodge troops during a mutiny by Indian soldiers in 1857 and again in the 1960s to house the Queen's entourage. Once known as the Jewel of the East, its once-gleaming marble floors are stained and its Victorian furniture and upholstery are frayed, while a musty smell now greets visitors.

( www.hindustantimes.com)

 

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