Shimla: Rubbishing any plans of reviving the Himalayan Ski Village project, cabinet minister GS Bali told reporters here today that the company that had initially floated the proposal has dismembered and no one had approached the government for setting up the stalled project.
After having killed the project by deterring potential investors, BJP was unnecessarily making a hue and cry about the Ski Village project as the company that wanted to set up the high end tourism project does not exist anymore, said Bali. This should put an end to all speculations about revival of Himalayan Ski Village project, he added.
No potential investor is going to wait for such a long time and that too after facing so much litigation and suffering so many losses, the minister said.
The minister was reacting to media reports about government plans to revive the multi-million dollar foreign direct investment tourism project that was proposed to be set up upstream of Manali in Kullu valley.
It was during the congress government of 2003-2007 period that the investment proposal first came before the tourism authorities and was in principal approved but soon ran into resistance with resident of Kullu valley.
Fearing desecration of holy lands in the valley and environment and cultural pollution from the proposed project, Him Lokhit Party president Maheshwar Singh, who then was in BJP, had led protests and even held a congregation of Kullu valley Devta’s, where the very concept of Ski Village was rejects by the valley residents.
A change in 2008, scrapped the project by serving notice and holding a public hearing in the project impact area. However, the governments action was challenged by the promoters in court.
The courts had struck down the government order in 2012 as illegal and directed the promoters to obtain all environment clearances within 6 months before going ahead with the project but the state had challenged the order.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
