For the 430-odd employees of Great Eastern Hotel, Monday was to have been the last day at work. But, by late afternoon, they were busy preparing to illuminate the century-old hotel for Diwali.

The state government on Monday decided to push back the date of closure of the hotel to November. A move that brought much joy to the employees on the festival eve.

?A decision was taken at the ministers? level to keep the hotel open for another month. The unions had demanded that the hotel be kept open till the final selection is made among the bidders. Moreover, the details of the early retirement scheme has not been worked out yet,? member-secretary of the hotel Jagannath Bag said on Monday.

According to sources in the hotel, the decision was not made in haste. It was being contemplated for some time. A rethink on ?humanitarian grounds? led to the extension of the closure deadline.

A section of the Intuc-dominated employees? union of the hotel had recently reminded commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen of his assurance to the staff on May 5. Accepting a proposal from them, Sen had promised that no one would be shown the door till the hotel had changed hands.

Since the bidders for the hotel have only been shortlisted, the staff expressed their desire to continue work till the new owner is identified. The government allowed them to do just that.

?The accounts work relating to the exact dues of the employees is still not over. It is a huge task, involving a lot of paperwork. A few more weeks will be needed to complete the calculations. Even this has been taken into consideration,? said member-secretary Bag.

While a month?s extension of the retirement date may have come as a great Diwali gift for the employees, the government was not too enthusiastic on the decision. And the reason is clearly financial.

According to the accounts book, the hotel pays between Rs 44 lakh and Rs 45 lakh as salary, including Provident Fund contribution and ESI, and between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh as power bill.

The expenditure on raw material is between Rs 19 lakh and Rs 20 lakh.

According to insiders, the total cost of running the hotel is about Rs 50 lakh a month, excluding salaries.

In the next few weeks, sources claimed, the government will choose among the three companies that have bid for the hotel ? Unitech, a Delhi-based real-estate developer; Ramuk AB, a Scandinavian company owned by NRI Bicky Chakrobarty and Bharat Hotels, owned by Lalit Suri.

During the selection, the mandarins will merge the hotel with another non-functional unit, Apollo Zipper, and create a new company. Ninety per cent of its stake will be transferred to one of the bidders.

All this would be done by November-end, said sources.