The jewel of east, erstwhile Great Eastern Hotel, now rechristened as The Lalit Great Eastern, will be reopened on Tuesday evening in presence of state chief minister Mamata Banerjee but it is only a 'soft launch' as hurdles continue to stay in the way of historic hotel to  be able to operate as fully commercial hotel.

 

The reasons are more than one. One of the primary reasons being cited by the hotel officials is not being able to remove stores which are still operating in the ground floors of one of the blocks of 171 year old hotel. Jyotsna Suri, chairman and managing director  of Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, had cited same reason last week when she was here to attend a Ficci meeting. Suri herself has sought state government's help in this matter. 

 

Among others, it is yet to obtain some of the licenses to be able to operate as commercial luxury hotels. One of the most important of such licenses being liquor licenses. But that is the case with many other hotels and restaurants in the city. The recently opened Taj Gateway in Kolkata is yet to get its liquor license. The complete launch of the hotel will take place in  a span of one year. 

 

Bharat Hotels, under Lalit Suri Hospitality Group which owns the property, has chosen to unveil the heritage property on November 19 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of late Lalit Suri, founder of the group. On this day, 171-year-old hotel was also born.