deciding in principle to set up a state-of-the-art Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) in the cotton capital of Punjab.

The institute governed by the union ministry of tourism would come up on seven acres of land in the Industrial Focal Point in Bathinda.

This was decided in Chandigarh today at a high-level meeting chaired by Punjab chief minister. The meeting was attended by state tourism Principal Secretary, Punjab State Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) Limited Managing Director and Bathinda Deputy Commissioner, among others. The land where the proposed institute would come up belongs to PSIEC.

After IHM, Gurdaspur, which is sprawled across nine acres, it would be the second institute of its kind in Punjab.

“The Union government would be contributing Rs 10 crore for the total Rs 13 crore project, in which rest of the cost would be borne by the state government,” Principal Secretary, Punjab Tourism department, Geetika Kalha told The Indian Express.

“There is a huge shortage of manpower in the hotel industry. National figures reveal that at present 2 lakh people are needed in the hotel industry and the number is increasing every year,” said Geetika.

The government today also constituted a seven-member society comprising Principal Secretary,Tourism, Secretary of Information Technology, PSIEC MD, Director Tourism, Bathinda Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Director Tourism and Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) chief administrator to see the project through.