New Delhi: Lemon Tree Hotels, India’s largest chain of upscale hotels and resorts was conferred with the prestigious National Award 2011 for ‘Best Employer – Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities’ by the Ministry of Social Justice And Empowerment. Mr. Davander Singh Tomar, Senior Vice President-Security, Administration & People, Lemon Tree Hotels received the award from Shri Mukul Wasnik, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment at a ceremony held to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Introduced in 1969 by the government of India, the national award comprises Rs. 50,000 in cash, a shield, a citation and a certificate.

Speaking about receiving the award, Rahul Pandit, President & COO, Lemon Tree Hotels said, “Lemon Tree Hotels has always believed in being an equal opportunity employer and this award reinforces our resolve to continue to bring differently abled employees on board. Currently Lemon Tree Hotels employs 111 differently abled employees and intends to take this number to more than 300 i.e. 10% of our staff strength by 2013.”

Empowerment of persons with disabilities is an inter-disciplinary process, covering various aspects namely, prevention, early detection, intervention, education, vocational training, rehabilitation and social integration etc. Apart from resources, it requires dedicated efforts of persons and institutions involved in the process of empowerment. In order to recognize their effort and encourage others to strive to achieve excellence in this field, separate awards were presented to the best employees/self-employed with disabilities, best employers, best placement agency/officer, outstanding individuals, outstanding institutions, role models, outstanding creative disabled individuals and for best applied research/innovation/product development aimed at improving the life of persons with disabilities.