Chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday directed senior officials to initiate action to acquire IDC’s Ranchi Ashok Bihar Hotel that had been lying idle for over three years.

At a meeting held at the state secretariat at Project Bhavan, Hemant discussed the possibility of a full take-over of the property with chief secretary Sukhdev Singh, his principal secretary Rajeev Arun Ekka, finance and planning secretary Himani Pandey and tourism secretary Pooja Singhal.

The hotel was established as a joint venture between Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and Bihar Tourism and started functioning in January 1987 when Ranchi was in undivided Bihar.

While ITDC had 51 per cent stake, Bihar Tourism had the remaining 49 per cent, the chief minister was informed.

After Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000, the new state was given 12.5 per cent share as the land on which the hotel was situated belonged to it.

However, the hotel, which is situated on prime land near Mecon office in Doranda, has not been in operation since 2018. Given its location, and if run efficiently and professionally, there is no reason for the hotel not to be able to attract a good number of guests.

In order to take it over and run it, the Jharkhand government will have to buy the remaining 87.5 per cent share (51 per cent from ITDC and 36.5 per cent from Bihar Tourism), the chief minister was informed.

Hemant then directed officials to initiate action so that the property could be acquired.