CITCO plans to let pvt player run ‘loss-making’ Mermaid

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, May 17

The Chandigarh Industrial Tourism and Corporation (CITCO) plans to hand over operations of its “loss-making” ‘Mermaid Restaurant and Pub’ at Sukhna Lake to a private player.

The issue came up for discussion during a meeting of the Board of Directors here today. During discussion, it was decided to prepare terms and conditions for running the restaurant by a private firm on a revenue-sharing basis, said sources, adding tenders could be floated in the first week of next month.

In February, CITCO had floated an expression of interest (EoI) to run the restaurant by a private company. As many as 10 companies had expressed interest, but after the CITCO Progressive Workers’ Union opposed the move, the corporation had to defer the proposal. The matter was taken up again today.

The sources said the move had been initiated due to financial losses, lack of expected earnings and shortage of professionals to run the restaurant. Mermaid restaurant is part of the Chef Lakeview complex at the lake, which had reportedly earned a profit of Rs 2 crore in 2022-23.

Kashmir Chand, chairman, and Prem Lal, president, CITCO Progressive Workers’ Union, however, said they would oppose the move of the management. “By privatising the operations of the restaurant, employees will lose their jobs as most of its employees are either on contract or outsourced from private agencies,” they said.

To stop privatisation of the restaurant, they will not hesitate to move court, they stated, adding the losses were notional as it was profit that had gone down.

In another decision, the board extended the lease period of the petrol stations at Sector 9 and Hallo Majra by 15 years.

The board further approved Rs 14 crore in arrears of employees towards dearness allowance (DA) and grade pay, which have been pending since 2016 due to paucity of funds.

Second attempt in three months

• In February, expression of interest was invited to run the restaurant by a private firm; 10 companies had come forward, but workers’ union forced deferment of the proposal
• Board of Directors has now decided to prepare terms and conditions to run the restaurant by a private firm on a revenue-sharing basis, say sources in corporation
• The move has been initiated due to lack of expected earnings and shortage of professionals to run the restaurant, say sources
• Mermaid restaurant is part of Chef Lakeview complex at the lake; interestingly, latter reportedly earned a profit of Rs 2 crore in 2022-23

May move court

Losses are notional. By privatising operations, staff will lose jobs as most are on contract or outsourced. We will not hesitate to move court against the decision. — Kashmir Chand, chairman, CITCO Progressive Workers’ Union