Odishatv Bureau
New Delhi: After the government`s approval of Rs 30,000 crore package for Air India, Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has intensified efforts to claim Rs 50 crore dues from the state-owned airline.

ITDC has a total of Rs 124 crore outstanding dues from various ministries and departments including Air India, Railways, External Affairs and Finance among others. Air India has about 100 rooms reserved for its crew round the year in the ITDC-run Ashoka Hotel.

"We have written several times to Air India about the outstanding dues. Our General Manager has gone to Mumbai to meet Director (Finance) of Air India and let`s hope that our dues will be cleared soon as the airlines have got a bailout package now," a senior ITDC official said.

The government has approved a package of around Rs 30,000 crore to bail out the cash-strapped national carrier.

"We have to get about Rs 50 crore from Air India for using Ashoka hospitality," said the official. ITDC, a PSU under Tourism Ministry, has total dues of Rs 138 crore from various ministries as on April 1, 2012.

"We have recently received payments of Rs 14 crore from a few of our clients which include Rs 8 crore from Indian Navy and Rs 1.5 crore from the management of Commonwealth Games.

"However, Air India is one of our major clients as its crew are availing Ashoka rooms for the last 30 years," he said.

Hotel Ashoka has 550 rooms out of which 100 rooms are being kept for Air India round the year. ITDC, which had total 38 hotels before disinvestment is left with only 14 including Ashoka, Samrat and Janpath hotels.

After two years, ITDC has registered a Rs 21 crore profit in 2011-12. "For two successive financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11, we could not make profit and we were in loss," the official said, adding that, "However, in the last fiscal we made profit."

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