Oberoi's Wildflower Hall to face audit

Himachal Pradesh’s most luxurious five-star hotel, The Wildflower Hall of the Oberoi group, is set to face a special audit. The Himachal Pradesh government, which is one of the stakeholders in the property, has sought the audit.

The hotel, located at the edge of Shimla in a deep Himalayan forest, is a favourite with tourists and celebrities.

“We are surprised this hotel has been incurring losses since it was rebuilt and opened in 2001. We have, therefore, asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to order a special audit into the accounts of the joint venture property,” said Chief Minister P K Dhumal.

“The state’s equity has already come down to barely 7.5 per cent from 35 per cent earlier, we suspect the effort is to push us out of the venture,” said Dhumal. “This is the biggest sellout by the Congress government, so we want an independent body, like CAG, to conduct the audit,” Dhumal added.

Nobody from the Oberoi group was available to comment.

Located at an altitude of 8,250 ft above sea level, 15 km uphill from Shimla, deep in the Himalayan pine and cedar woods, this building was once the house of Lord Kitchner, commander in chief during the British rule.

It served as a hotel of the state-run Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation(HPTDC) until the early 1990s, when it got burnt down in an accident.

It was then rebuilt in joint venture, but differences came up when the Oberoi group suddenly escalated the construction cost of the palatial building, reducing the government’s equity in the venture.

The matter was then taken to court, where the Oberoi group was asked to pay Rs 94 crore as rent for the period from 1995 to 2035. Following this, the group moved the state high court, where the matter is pending.