Tag Archives: Chairman

Rajan Sehgal, Chairman, TAAI Northern Chapter, feels that for the next few months, it will be a big problem for domestic tourism as people use cash transactions for everything from staying, to eating and sight-seeing. “Foreign tourists also are facing a challenge in paying for basic needs like food as well as reports have also come from many places about people being denied entry in the monuments as they do not have the required cash. Foreign tourists who are in the middle of their journey in India and have already exchanged money, have no idea what they need to do with the cash they have as most of it is in denominations of 1000 and 500. Another big problem for us is that all the embassies and VFS centres do not take cheques or credit cards. They only take demand drafts, which is a longer process or they accept cash, which is posing as a big problem today. We are in talks with them and hoping for a positive outcome.”

E.M. Najeeb, Chairman, IATO Southern Region, and Chairman & Managing Director, Air Travel Enterprises Group of Companies (ATE), says the decision has badly hit tourists today as thousands of tourists who are in India cannot pay in restaurants, do shopping, or pay for local purchases. “Apart from the stay, which is pre-paid, they can’t do anything else with the foreign exchange they have already taken. People are facing great hardships, queuing up at petrol pumps, there was not enough change at railway stations despite them accepting the 500 and 1000 bills. The government’s step to curtail black money is much appreciated, but I think it should have been better managed and the steps taken by the government shouldn’t have affected the normal people so much. We also have our hospitals and since the concession of accepting the larger denominations is only in government hospitals, private hospitals like us had to treat people for free.

Debjit Dutta, Chairman, IATO Eastern Chapter and Founder & CEO, Impression Tourism Services, says this bold move has definitely caused an inconvenience for travellers. “Foreign tourists who have recently exchanged money are now facing several problems even to buy food and shop since they are on holiday. Since we are tour operators, our business runs mostly on cash payments so it has hindered business as well. I feel that some facility should have been in place keeping in mind the number of tourists that are affected with this change – such turn of events might just lead them to have a bad impression of the country and go back with the same thing in mind,” he adds.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has signed an MoU with Mount Carmel College (Autonomous) in Bengaluru. M.S. Raghavan, Chairman, TAAI Karnataka, said, “We will collaboratively work broadly in the following areas besides other issues arising from time to time on tourism education. This will include designing the course curriculum and making it industry-relevant, and sourcing internships and final job placements for students of Mount Carmel College. We will also assist in arranging guest lecturers from the industry to update the current developments and conducting trade-related workshops. Other activities will include undertaking capacity development initiatives for the faculty members, sourcing live projects for the students from corporations in the sector, and other related initiatives with an objective of making B.Voc in Hospitality & Tourism Course and industry-oriented course that includes skill-training as well.” TAAI has in the past signed a similar MoU with HR College, Mumbai, Garden City College in Bengaluru, and the Lucknow University. Jay Bhatia, Tourism Council Chairman, TAAI, stated, “We at TAAI want to empower the future generations to understand and preview the industry. We want leaders of tomorrow to feel and understand the world before they set foot into the trade. Enhance and empower them is what we are looking at.”

A joint venture agreement was signed between the Ministry of Railways and Government of Kerala for developing railway infrastructure in the state. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, Government of India , Ashok Kumar Mital, Chairman, Railway Board; Aditya Kumar Mittal, Member Engineering, Board Members and other senior officials were also present on the occasion. The JV Agreement was signed by S.C. Jain, Executive Director(Works) on behalf of Railways whereas it was signed by K.R. Jyothilal, Secretary, Department of Transport and Revenue (Devaswom) on behalf of Government of Kerala. Speaking on the occasion, Prabhu said that the signing of JV Agreements with the State Governments is a farsighted step of the Ministry of Railways by which Railways want to work hand in glove with the State Governments for the development of railway infrastructure in the states. He said that these kinds of JV Agreement is the best example of cooperative federalism for development of the nation as envisioned by our Prime Minister. He pointed out that Kerala has been neglected for too long and now concerted efforts are needed to develop its railway infrastructure. He said that Railway Ministry has given maximum allocation to Kerala during 2014-15 to 2016-17. He further said that Railways is also working on the re-development of Kochi and Ernakulam stations of Kerala State. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman, Railway Board said that today’s JV Agreement will certainly fulfill the rail transport needs of the people of Kerala. He said that Railways want to extend railway network all over particularly in the States where demand is more and rail density is less. He said that railways has very limited resources and thus working in collaboration with …

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is expecting a surge in its membership, specially from Chennai and other southern cities post its convention. N.S. Rathor, Chairman, Western Region IATO and Regional Chapter Chairman, says, “Chennai ranks third in terms of number of members after New Delhi and Mumbai and I’m sure after this convention a lot of agents in the South will get interested in joining IATO. We have a lot of active members in South India in regions like Kerala and Chennai. Since this is the first time we are going to Chennai, there is a lot of interest among the south Indian agents, specially from Chennai because most of them haven’t been able to attend our convention before. So everyone there is excited.” Rathor relocated to Mumbai from Rajasthan 20 years ago and is the longest uninterrupted member in the Executive Committee. Speaking about the distribution of its membership across India, he says that Western India is number two after Delhi. “We are growing in numbers and our total strength now is over 1,600 of which 350 are active members.”

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will allow non-members to attend and participate in all activities at its convention, except the closed-door meetings that are open only for active members. N.S. Rathor, Chairman, Western Region IATO and Regional Chapter Chairman, said, “We are inviting all travel agents and tour operators to attend our convention – whether they are non-members or members of other travel associations – so that they can see the work we are doing and plan to do. We will charge them only Rs 1,500 extra and they can participate in everything that a member can except for the closed-door meetings that is open only for members. They can attend dinners, functions, business sessions, etc. In fact we want them to come and see what we do. We don’t enroll during the convention – that is respective chapter’s issue. But we have noticed a general increase in our memberships after our conventions.” While members will be charged Rs 7,500, non-members will have to pay Rs 9,000.

The current Chairman of Railway Board, A.K.Mital has been reappointed to the post for a period of two years i.e. till he attains the age of 62 years. Mital was appointed as Chairman, Railway Board on December 31, 2014. Prior to this appointment, he was Member Staff, Railway Board. Earlier, he served as General Manager of South Western Railway-SWR (Headquarters Hubli) and was also looking after the additional charge of General Manager, South Central Railway- SCR (Headquarters Secunderabad). Mital is a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.). An Officer of 1976 batch of Indian Railways Service of Stores (IRSS), he has worked on various important posts in the Indian Railways. He was Director/Stores, Executive Director/Vigilance and Executive Director/Stores in Railway Board, Ministry of Railways. He has worked as Chief Material Manager in Northern Railway.

Lords Hotels & Resorts is aiming at adding 15 properties to its portfolio to take the total count to at least 40 properties by the year 2020. “We are slated to announce the launch of our second property in Nepal and are also looking at setting feet in Kenya and some other countries  in the African continent,” says P.R. Bansal, Chairman, Lords Hotels & Resorts. The hotel chain is also planning on strategic growth in the Tier ll and Tier lll cities and towns. “The scope for growth for hotels in the affordable sector especially in the Tier ll and Tier lll regions is larger. It is our target to add four hundred new rooms by 2020,” says Rishi Puri, Vice President, Lords Hotels and Resorts. “We recently added a couple of properties to our portfolio in the south including a lavish resort in Thissur. The east has a good potential for growth especially in the mid-market segment and with our strength in this area, we are positive that we would be able to quickly take a lead in the region,” says  Bansal. “We are focusing on expansion across all the categories. Of our three new launches, our properties in Jammu and Agra belong to the Lords Inn brand, while our property in Kerala belongs to the Lords Resorts brand. In the forthcoming phase we will also be looking to hard promote our five branded F&B outlets and one spa. As India claims its rightful place on the global tourism map, Lords is poised to tap this great opportunity to its optimum potential,” concludes Puri.

Rajen Gohain assumed the charge of new Minister of State for Railways. He is a Member of Parliament from Nagaon constituency in Assam. Soon after taking charge, he had had a brief discussion with Chairman, Railway Board, A.K. Mital. Talking to media after taking charge, Gohain listed out his priority areas as Safety and Security, Expansion And Growth of Railway Infrastructure, Passenger Amenities and Passenger Services, Improving Punctuality, Redressal of Public Grievances, Expediting Railway Projects in North-East. A graduate in Arts and also in Law, Gohain has been active in social and political field right since his youth days.