Give substantial funds to make HCI financially sound:Par panel

Maintaining that the government has decided to pump Rs 30,000 crore into Air India, the Standing Committee on Industry said this decision "generates hope" that some funds out of this might be used to boost HCI's financial health and restore the commercial viability of the hotels under it.

Besides the Centaur Hotels in Delhi and Srinagar, HCI also operates the flight kitchen ChefAir in Delhi and Mumbai.

In its report tabled in Parliament today, the Committee, which made recommendations on the revival and restructuring of HCI, said it "strongly recommends for substantial allocation of resources made available to Air India for making the units working under the HCI more financially viable and sound."

It recommended that "at least Rs 100 crore", excluding Rs 25 crore already earmarked in this year's budget, be allocated to improve HCI's health.

The panel said it would like to see HCI's parent body Air India take steps to ensure that part of the money released for it goes to strengthening the state-run hotel corporation.

However, it also pointed out that "no tangible result would be achieved by pumping more money unless the employees and management do not qualitatively improve their performance."