Chandigarh, Dec 14 (IANS) As a token of appreciation, a cook who worked for 26 years at a government-run hotel here initiated its expansion plan by digging the earth and placing the first brick.

The cook, Khiali Ram, joined Hotel Mountview way back in 1982 - when it was still a private hotel managed by leading chain Oberoi hotels, was the chief guest for the occasion.

Ram put up a smile in his unique moment of glory as officers of the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) and hotel management garlanded him just before he initiated the expansion work.

‘I never thought I would be doing this. This is like a dream. I am at the fag end of my service. It is an honour for me,’ Ram said.

‘He is the oldest employee of this hotel. We wanted to honour him by getting him to initiate the expansion work,’ CITCO managing director Jasbir Singh Bir told IANS.

When Ram had joined the hotel, it had just 33 rooms after being upgraded to the level of a star-hotel.

The property, located in Chandigarh’s upscale Sector 10, is the biggest and the only 5-star hotel in the city. It has 155 rooms and a host of other facilities including banquets halls, health club and sprawling lawns.

The new expansion plan, according to Bir, will include extension of the coffee shop, putting up a multi-level basement parking, upgrading the health club and redoing the lobby and other interiors of the hotel.

CITCO runs three hotels - Mountview, Shivalikview and Parkview - in the city besides managing tourism properties at the famous Sukhna Lake and Kalagram.

It earned a profit of nearly Rs 140 mn (14 crore) last year - with a turnover of over Rs. 2.9 billion in 2006-07.