Mumbai: Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) will not serve non-vegetarian food and alcoholic beverages at the upcoming Taj Palitana after the Jain community expressed resentment against the announcement of the luxury hospitality project in its pilgrim city. With this decision, Taj Palitana will become the first vegetarian and alcohol-free Taj hotel.

On April 1, The Free Press Journal reported about concerns within the Jains, who feared that Taj Palitana will undermine the sanctity of the community’s pilgrimage site by serving non-veg food and alcohol. IHCL has signed the Palitana Palace in Bhavnagar district to convert it into a five-star hotel.

The Free Press Journal contacted IHCL to know their plans about the hotel in Palitana, which is considered a holy site for Jains. IHCL informed FPJ that the hotel will serve only vegetarian food and will not serve any alcohol in the announced hotel. This will make Taj Palitana the first hotel under IHCL’s Taj brand to become an only-vegetarian and alcohol-free facility.

An IHCL spokesperson said, “The proposed hotel in Palitana will offer only vegetarian Jain cuisine and non-alcoholic beverages.”

Mandhatsinh Jadeja from the erstwhile royal family of Rajkot, the owner of the Palitana Palace, said that they have no intentions or even business-related plans of any kind to hurt the sentiments of the Jain community.

Replying to a letter by a member of Animal Welfare Board of Gujarat government, he said, “We will be serving only vegetarian Jain food and non-alcoholic beverages at the proposed hotel. The same stand is also intended to be applied by us to any hotel brand that may operate at our said property.

Sandeep Bhandari, state president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jain Cell, welcomed the decision and expressed gratitude towards the hospitality company for respecting the sentiments of the community. “This will be the first time that non-vegetarian food and alcohol would not be served in a Taj hotel. We thank the Taj group on behalf of the entire community,” he said.

Shree Mumbai Jain Sangh Sangathan, a union of all the Jain sub-communities in Mumbai, had written to Gujarat chief minister, home minister and Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikas Board, objecting to the hotel. While the religious organisation welcomed the announcement by IHCL, it is still concerned that the hotel culture will defile the sanctity of the holy site.

Kamlesh Shah, executive committee member of the organisation, said, “Taj group will adhere to its ethics and we do not have to worry about them but their entry in Palitana will also open the door for other hotel chains. Not all the hotels are as committed as the Taj group and the others might defile the sanctity of the site at some time in the future.”

The organisation has also requested IHCL’s managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal for a meeting to discuss the issue but said that they are yet to receive a reply from him. However, the Jain community has also demanded Gujarat government to turn all such pilgrim cities and villages into vegetarian-only and alcohol-free zones like Ayodhya and Vaishno Devi shrine.

With over 850 temples, Palitana is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for the Jain community and the Shatrunjaya Mountain located in the city is one of the five Jain panchakshetras, holy places for the community.