Valmikinagar (Bagaha), March 17: Tourism minister Sunil Kumar Pintu has ordered a probe into scrapping of the project to convert a guesthouse into a hotel midway.

Expressing his ignorance over the circumstances under which the construction of the hotel was stopped, the minister said: “I want to know how and why a project that was started in 2006-2007 and was scheduled to be complete within three-and-a-half years was left incomplete.”

The Telegraph had reported on March 5 (Heritage guest house facelift plan derails) that the public works department (PWD) had invited a fresh tender for renovation of an existing dormitory — Valmiki Vihar — before the hotel construction was complete.

Expressing his shock over the developments, the minister told The Telegraph: “I am clueless on who ordered to give facelift to the existing guest house stopping the construction of the hotel.”

He said a thorough inquiry has been ordered into the matter. A team of officials would visit Valmikinagar soon and submit a detailed report before him.

The contract of the hotel was awarded to CS Constructions of Motihari by PWD’s building unit at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore. The project started in 2006-2007 and was scheduled to be complete within three-and-a-half years. By the time the construction stopped, Rs 50 lakh was drained.

Instead of completing the hotel, a fresh tender for renovation of the existing dormitory at a cost of Rs 2.9 crore was finalised by PWD.

Director of CS Constructions Chandra Shekhar Singh told The Telegraph that without giving any reason, the construction work of the hotel was stopped.

He added a fresh contract for renovation of Valmiki Vihar has been awarded to Ravi Pathak Construction Company of Bagaha. But it landed into a controversy after one Pramod Singh of Bagaha filed a case in Patna High Court.

The guesthouse, as well as the dormitory, had housed dignitaries of India and Nepal back in 1964. The former king of Nepal, Mahendra Vir Vikram Shah Deo, had laid the foundation stone of the Gandak barrage in the presence of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.