The 150th meeting of Board of Directors (BoD) of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) was held here today under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh.
The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts made by the employees of the Corporation for making it financially viable and asked them to continue their endeavors for improving its performance further.
He said that extra efforts should be made for maintaining the properties of the HPTDC so that the visitors may carry the first hand impression of hospitality of the state. Tourism was an important sector of any State as it an added source of generating revenue, therefore the staff needs to be courteous, humble and soft while dealing with the visitors, provided, those travelling in the HPTDC buses should be dealt with politely, said the Chief Minister.
Shri Virbhadra Singh said he was happy to learn that the Corporation earned net profit of Rs. 682.27 lakh during current financial year upto August, 2017.
The Board also approved bonus, regularization of daily waged workers and promotion of the employees of the Corporation.
He said we need to capitalize on the natural bounty and particularly the religious and adventure tourism in Himachal. We have abundance scenic beauty and one of the best ski slopes and paragliding sites which needs to be exploited to its full potential, said the Chief Minister. Apart from this, rural and religious tourism needs to be promoted in a big way which will be a source of self employment opportunities to the youth.
Managing Director HPTDC Shri Dinesh Malhotra informed that up-gradation of existing properties is necessary for the Corporation to compete in the market and will help to attract more tourists. He said that it had spent about Rs. 45 crore for renovation, repair and refurbishment of HPTDC properties during this period.
He said 733 employees were promoted and services of 200 employees were regularized during last four and a half years.
Vice-Chairman HPTDC Shri Harish Janartha, Chief Secretary Shri V.C. Pharka, Members of Board of the Directors HPTDC Shri Surinder Sethi, Shri Virender Dharmani, Shri Rupesh Kanwal, Shri Vijay Inder Karan, Shri Gopal Krishan Mahant, Shri Amarjeet Singh and Special Secretary (Finance) Shri Hans Raj, were also present in the meeting.
