Shimla: Residents at a public hearing held on 6th of June at Koti in Manali expressed their anger and opposition to the Himalayan Ski Village project, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal let the Himachal Vidhan Sabha know, today.
In a written reply to a question by Rajesh Dharmani, (Congress) the chief minister said that the government received a proposal for Himalayan Ski Village on 19.3.2004 with Alfred Ford as it head.
Opposing the establishment of the project, Jan Jagaran and Development Organisation Sarsai-Manali and Sanjeev Sharman filed petitions before the Himachal High Court, the chief minister stated.
They opposed the project on the grounds the promoter company had not obtained any clearance from the central government’s environment ministry, no tenders were invited for the project and there was no policy was formulated about giving substantial land for the proposed Ski Village.
On 9th April, 2008, the advocate general let the court know verbally that the state government intended to re-examine and review the proposed project. To do so a committee headed by secretary tourism had been constituted, stated Dhumal.
The committee held meetings on 28th June, 2008, 23rd July, 2008 and 5th December, 2008. On 6th June, 2009, the committee held a public hearing at Koti in Manali that was attended by about 400 people, which included company representatives of Himalayan Ski Village.
At the meeting, people expressed their anger in opposition of the proposed project and also submitted written objections, stated Dhumal.
On 16th July, 2009, the committee headed by secretary tourism held another meeting where it was decided that views of the departments of revenue, town planning, irrigation and public health, environment, forest and the deputy commissioner of Kullu about the project be considered to prepare a draft report that would be presented to the committee at its next meeting, the chief minister stated.
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