Nedou’s to make a comeback as luxury hotel

M Aamir Khan

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Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 21

The historic Nedou’s hotel, located in the heart of the summer capital, will be renovated as an ITC hotel and cater to high-end tourists.

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed laid the foundation stone at a ceremony held here today to launch Nedou’s in a new avatar of ITC hotel.

Nakul Anand, Executive Director of the ITC Limited, said the group would renovate the building to its glorious past and also keep its old architectural style intact.

“The ITC Hotel has been planned around the existing building structures, harking back to its glorious past, as a tribute to the rich heritage of Srinagar. The new building blocks are planned to complement and enhance the existing architectural vocabulary of the hotel,” said Nakul Anand.

Besides offering 114 rooms and 25 luxury suites, he said a ‘Mahtab Bagh’ or moonlight garden was proposed as part of the landscape in the hotel premises on the pattern of the Mughal gardens of the city.

Speaking on the occasion, Mufti urged the ITC to keep the heritage value of Nedou’s intact. The hotel was earlier occupied by the CRPF and also suffered damages during the floods last year.

The Chief Minister said Nedou’s was among the oldest hotels of the Valley. He said the Nedou’s hotels at Srinagar and the ski resort Gulmarg were among the main players when tourists used to come to the Valley after 1947.

Welcoming the initiative by the ITC group to foray into the elite hospitality sector in the Valley, Mufti said high-end tourism would get a huge fillip, if the state was able to attract big investment in the hospitality sector. He sought cooperation from the national media in changing the negative perception of Kashmir while expressing concern over low tourist arrivals this year. Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Finance and Culture Haseeb A Drabu welcomed the partnership between a Kashmir-based tourism firm and the ITC. He hoped that such collaborations by the ITC will go beyond tourism and venture into other sectors to make J&K an attractive investment destination.

He made the comments after the ITC Group and Ahad Hotels and Resorts inked two proposals for promotion of Heevan Resorts, Srinagar, and Hotel Pine & Peaks, Pahalgam, as the ITC Welcome Group destinations hotels.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was also present on the occasion.