High Court issues notices on Rishikesh housing project

Amid a raging controversy over a Rishikesh housing project, the Uttarakhand High Court today issued notices to the state government and Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on the issue of change in the land use pattern of an industry.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice B K Bist asked the government, BIFR and a private developer to reply within four weeks on a petition filed by an NGO.

The High Court notices came after union minister of state for labour Harish Rawat had accused the government of setting a wrong precedent in changing the land use pattern of the industry to facilitate a housing project at the holy city of Rishikesh near the Ganga.

The government had so far maintained that it only followed the advice of the BIFR on the matter. The government last year accorded permission to Mumbai-based Citurgia Biochemical limited, which was producing chemical carbonate at its Rishikesh plant, for a housing project. A lockout was declared in the factory in 2003 after it became sick and the matter was referred to the BIFR.

Though the government claimed that the permission for the housing project was accorded under a BIFR revival scheme, the opposition parties led by Congress had objected, saying there is no permission for constructing a housing project along the river Ganga. The opposition parties are seeking a CBI probe claiming the project was cleared in gross violation of environmental norms to benefit some BJP leaders.

The Citurgia company has so far maintained that it sold a part of the factory’s land to raise funds as part of the BIFR revival scheme. Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank also denied the charges levelled by the opposition saying it was trying to tarnish the image of the government. “Everything was done strictly under the BIFR rules,” said Nishank.