Calcutta, May 12: Leaders of the Citu and Intuc employees’ unions of Great Eastern Hotel will meet state tourism secretary T.K. Burman at Writers’ Buildings tomorrow, in a move that indicates a gradual easing of tension between union members and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government.

Citu leader Rajdeo Goala and Ramen Pandey of Intuc had last week separately met commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen with their list of demands.

The unions ? for the first time ? expressed “happiness” with the discussions. The minister echoed this sentiment, saying the meeting had been very positive and he felt the stalemate has finally ended.

The government’s willingness to discuss and negotiate is “a very positive sign” and “we are expecting that the talks will also go along similar lines tomorrow and many issues would be resolved”, Pandey said.

“Once we have started talking, we might work out a compromise formula that suits both us and the government. Both sides may have to backtrack a little on certain issues. We would never have agreed to the forced ouster of hotel staff.”

The positive note came as five interested buyers ? Bharat Hotels, Unitech Group, Inter Continental South West Asia, ITC Ltd and Claridges Hotel Group ? visited the hotel’s data rooms today to examine documents. The site visit, which is part of the due diligence process, will continue till May 16.

Five other companies ? the Park Hotels, New Kenilworth, Sinclairs, Ramsuk Scan AB (a Scandinavian company) and Ruchi Group ? have also shown interest in taking over the hotel.

A senior official dealing with the restructuring process said two of these companies have said they want to back out. “However, these companies have not intimated us directly. We have been informed through the consultants handling the restructuring process,” the official said.

The impending change of management has also impacted bookings. Great Eastern authorities have said they are not accepting long-term bookings at the hotel, which is to close down till a new company takes over.

“Some companies make long-term bookings. These often go up to more than a few months at a stretch. We are only taking bookings for the next three months,” said an official.