The Railways are likely to allow Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to go ahead with its plan for setting up 20 budget hotels on railway land across the country.Though letter of allotments of land were issued to a few hotel chains like Royal Orchid and Signet Hotels for 20 sites last year, land could not be transferred due to the objections raised by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA).The hotel plan was unfolded by the IRCTC in 2006 and accordingly 100 railway sites were selected for setting up budget hotels on public-private partnership (PPP) model.The IRCTC went ahead with the plan by inviting tenders for 20 sites in the first lot. However, RLDA, set up to develop surplus railway land commercially, staked its claim for the hotel project and alleged that proper procedures were not followed in finalising the land deals in the first lot for 20 sites.RLDA maintained that tenders were floated before the land was handed over to IRCTC by railways. The issue could not be resolved and the project was stalled for about a year."The issues concerning the 20 sites for budget hotels is being resolved now and the modalities for transferring the land are being worked out," said a senior Railways Ministry official.
