Last year, the government decided to exit four ITDC-run hotels across India, including Janpath Hotel, as part of its Rs 72,500 crore disinvestme

Janpath Hotel, one of the state-run ITDC’s prime properties in the capital, will soon be demolished and redeveloped to house central government offices, three government officials familiar with the development said, detailing a plan, which could spell the end of an iconic hotel that has fallen on hard times.

Delhi’s Janpath Hotel will be demolished to make way for govt offices Last year, the government decided to exit four ITDC-run hotels across India, including Janpath Hotel, as part of its Rs 72,500 crore disinvestment plan for 2017-18. DELHI Updated: May
Delhi’s Janpath Hotel will be demolished to make way for govt offices Last year, the government decided to exit four ITDC-run hotels across India, including Janpath Hotel, as part of its Rs 72,500 crore disinvestment plan for 2017-18. DELHI Updated: May © Arvind Yadav/HT File Photo

A committee of secretaries headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha, set up last year to work out details such as land usage and how the hotel property should be used, has approved the proposal to develop the 4.4 acre plot in the heart of the capital for so-called General Pool Official Accommodation (GPOA).

The Janpath Hotel has a built-up space of five lakh sq ft.

Together with another five acre plot on 30 Thyagraj Marg that the government has identified for developing GPOA, this will result in creation of approximately 1 million sq ft of space for housing central government offices.

Last year, the government decided to exit four ITDC-run hotels across India, including Janpath Hotel, as part of its Rs 72,500 crore disinvestment plan for 2017-18. As part of the process, last May, the Union cabinet approved the transfer of Janpath Hotel to the Union housing and urban affairs ministry, the owner of the land.

Delhi has a huge shortage of land to accommodate central government offices, forcing many of them to run from rented properties.

The Union housing and urban affairs ministry estimates the shortage at 4.2 million sq ft.

“The Janpath Hotel property has a built up space of 500,000 sq. ft , of which it was using just 50,000 . To make more optimal use of the available space and save government the money spent on renting properties to house various central government offices, it was decided to redevelop it for GPOA,” one of the officials cited above said on condition of anonymity.

According to realty experts, the Janpath Hotel property would have fetched a windfall if it was used to develop commercial office space.