Amidst renewed controversy over a Rishikesh-based housing society, the Centre today asked the Uttarakhand government to cancel the project, saying the land use pattern of the biochemical industry should not have been changed.
“The way the land use pattern of this industry was changed to facilitate a housing project in Rishikesh, it has set a wrong precedent for other industries to follow the pattern,” said Union Minister of State for Labour, Harish Rawat. The state government claimed it only followed the advice of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (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 maintained that the permission for the housing project was accorded under a BIFR revival scheme, Rawat said it was not yet clear whether the rules of BIFR were followed strictly since there is no permission for constructing a housing project along the river Ganga. “Moreover, it is also surprising that the government took just one day to clear all the hurdles in the project,” said Rawat.
The opposition parties are seeking a CBI probe claiming the project was cleared in gross violation of environmental norms to benefit some BJP leaders.
A series of tax sops like exemption in stamp duty fees were also given to the private developer, which is constructing the housing colony in the area where once the factory stood, Rawat alleged.
They alleged that the government in last October issued a notification to change the land use pattern to facilitate the housing project in the factory premises after the company sought permission. The Citurgia company wanted to sale a part of the factory’s land to raise funds for its revival as part of the BIFR revival scheme.
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank 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.