Himachal High Court Disposes Case Opposing Himalayan Ski Village Project

By: Ravinder Makhaik

Shimla: Alfred Ford’s dream project of setting up a world class ski village in the Himalayas may finally become a reality as the Himachal High Court today disposed of a public interest litigation opposing the $ 300 million Himalayan Ski Village project.

In its disposal order the court allowed the government’s plea to reconsider and review some points about the Memorandum of Understanding and Implementation Agreement, which it had entered into with the Himalayan Ski Village Company. However the court asked the government to settle the issue in a time bound manner.

Two separate PIL opposing the project had been filed in the court. While one was disposed off by the court earlier, the other one was disposed off today.

The matter had reached the court after environmentalists and local has opposed the country’s first ski village project on the ground that such a large project in an ecologically fragile zone was harmful to the mountain environment and would dispossess local people of their forest and water rights in the area.

The Himalayan Ski Village had become a controversial project from the time it was proposed as the BJP then in the opposition had opposed on various reasons including that such a project close to an international border was a national security threat.

The project was also opposed by some local people, who had held a conclave of Devta’s where opposition for the project was registered.

However the earlier congress government went head and signed an MOU and implementation agreement for the project with Alfred Ford, a scion of the family of automobile pioneer Henry Ford..

The company had initially proposed to invest about $ 300 million dollars to set up a world class winter resort, complete with gondolas, private air strip, chalets, five star accommodations and a handicraft mart.