BENGALURU: Raj Bhavan is all set to get a facelift. For the first time, the office of the Governor of Karnataka has reached out to the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) to manage hospitality for them. The proposal was sent to KSTDC, which is a wing of the tourism department, in June 2022 and since then the officials are busy preparing a plan which will be placed before Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for approval.
“The hospitality of Raj Bhavan in Karnataka will be handed over to KSTDC. So far it was managed by in-house staff. The request came to us from the secretary of Raj Bhavan and they want it to be managed on the lines of Kumara Krupa Guest House and other KSTDC properties for the guests visiting Raj Bhavan,” KSTDC Managing Director, Jagadeesha G told The New Indian Express.
The proposal has been made after many Governors, politicians and VIPs from other states have visited Kumara Krupa Guest House and other KSTDC properties including in Madikeri and given a positive feedback. “Recently, governors of Goa and Uttar Pradesh had visited Kumara Krupa Guest House and experienced our services first-hand”, said KSTDC officials. KSTDC is expected to manage the gardening, food, kitchen, five-star hotel type of services and hosting of guests.
Services may start in 2 months
At present, all these services are managed by in-house staff. For security reasons, some of the staffers will stay in the Governor’s quarters and others will work and travel in and out of Raj Bhavan. The department is working on preparing a proposal with a budget of Rs 4 crore. The officials said that if all goes well, the operations and services will start in two months. The proposal will be submitted to the Governor for approval within 20 days. Jagadeesha said, “It is a matter of pride for us. A government agency is being entrusted the work. It shows that our hospitality and services are on par or even better than services offered by others.”