Shimla: Not just a vigilance inquiry, Communist Party of India Marxists (CPIM) has demanded that the forest clearance accorded to a contentious high end housing project in a thickly forested area of the city also be probed.
Supporting the government decision to hold an vigilance inquiry into cottages being constructed at Bamloe, CPI(M) spokesman Tikender Panwar states that the party has been in the forefront of bringing out violations, particularly that of the Forest Conservation Act, by a leading real estate company of the country.
“The Forest Clearance Authority, Chandigarh, which gave forest clearance to the Samatara Cottages project, should also be brought under the scanner,” says Panwar. “Innumerable discrepancies in allotment of the housing project in the densely forested Kanlog locality has been repeatedly pointed out,” he added.
The party has alleged that people were used as a shield to illegally subvert the Forest Conservation Act and dubious methods were used to make a road through the forest to the upcoming colony.
With each cottage in the gated colony said to be cost over Rs 1.5 crore, the project has been controversial right from the start and was one of the main issues that figured in a charge sheet against the former BJP government framed by Congress members, when they were in opposition.
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.
