The Hotel Association of India (HAI) has recently appointed former secretary, Ministry of Tourism Madan Prasad Bezbaruah as the secretary general. The appointment comes in the backdrop of industry dealing Coronavirus outbreak that has left the sector in untenable circumstances. Bezbaruah succeeds R K Puri, a senior bureaucrat and first director of tourism, railway board and instrumental in the conceptualisation and launch of “Palace on Wheels”.
Bezbaruah is a senior bureaucrat with close to four decades of experience working in the circle of power – both at the Centre and State. He has held important government positions nationally and internationally like home secretary Assam, minister (Economic) in the High Commission of India, London, principal adviser in the Planning Commission of India and secretary in the Ministry of Tourism for five years. He is the only Indian civil servant to be elected as chairman of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). After his retirement, he was a member of the strategic group of UNWTO, banking ombudsman for the Reserve Bank of India and member North Eastern Council.
