CITCO to privatise Sukhna Lake restaurant
In February this year, Chandigarh Industrial Tourism and Corporation Union (CITCO) had floated an expression of interest to hire a private firm to run Sukhna Lake restaurant
Despite strong opposition from the CITCO Progressive Workers’ Union, the corporation’s board of directors on Wednesday decided to go ahead with privatisation of its loss-riddled Mermaid restaurant at Sukhna Lake.
In February this year, CITCO (Chandigarh Industrial Tourism and Corporation) Union had floated an expression of interest to hire a private firm to run the restaurant, a move strongly opposed by the union. A total of 10 companies had shown interest in the proposal.
As per CITCO records, the restaurant earns roughly between ₹25 lakh and ₹30 lakh per month, not enough to break even.
“As per proposal, the restaurant will be run by a private firm on revenue-sharing basis. The tenders will be floated in the first week of June,” said Hardeep Singh, chief general manager, CITCO.
Union chairman Kashmir Chand said, “We have submitted written appeals to the authorities not to privatise the restaurant, as it is not running in losses. Moreover, privatisation will render the employees jobless as majority of them were hired on contractual basis or outsourced from private agencies.”
Other decisions
The board of directors approved the pending arrears of dearness allowance (DA) and grade pay amounting to ₹14 crore that have been pending since 2016. There are around 700 employees working in 21 units in the industrial and tourism arms of the corporation.
The board also extended the lease period of the petrol pumps in Sector 9 and Hallo Majra by 15 years.
