On the question raised on the tender process of tourism development works in George Everest Mussoorie, the officials of the Tourism Department said, complete transparency has been adopted in the selection of firms for the operation, management and development of aero sports activities. Firms have been selected through e-tender process. Secretary Tourism Dhiraj Garbyal said that in 1987-88, the district administration had acquired 172.91 acres of land in George Everest. Under the ADB project, the construction work of Heritage Park was started in George Everest in 2019. The work was completed in November 2022. In this, tourism infrastructure development work was done with museum, laboratory, five cafes at a cost of 23.52 crores. In 2022, three firms applied through tender process for operation and management of aero sports activities. In this, after technical and financial evaluation, the work was allotted to Rajas Aero Sports and Adventure Private Limited for 15 years. But the ownership of the land and assets is with the Tourism Department. At present, Himalaya Darshan Yojana, bird watching, astro tourism, museum and parking operations are being carried out in George Everest through Rajas Aero Sports and Adventure Private Limited. Land allocation in George Everest is the biggest scam in the state Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya has termed the matter of giving the land of the tourism department on annual rent in the George Everest area as corruption. He said that the state government has crossed all limits of corruption. The company which was given the contract for George Everest is related to Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali. Arya said that the fraud committed to grab the tourism contract worth billions of rupees has been exposed. Uttarakhand Tourism Board issued a tender for adventure tourism in Mussoorie. The person who got the tender was to get the responsibility of managing the spot spread over 142 acres, which included museum, observatory, cafeteria, sports area, parking etc. Out of this land, 142 acres of land (762 bigha or 2862 naali or 5744566 sq.m.) was given on rent by the Deputy Executive Officer of Uttarakhand Tourism Development Council to Rajas Aero Sports and Adventure Private Limited for only Rs. 1 crore per annum. He said that the company has occupied 1000 bigha of land on the spot. The entire tender process was given to a single company Leader of Opposition Arya said that Balkrishna’s company got this tender with a fee of just Rs. 1 crore per annum. The amazing thing is that Balkrishna owns all the three companies that submitted the tender. Even if we leave out the occupied part, the value of this 762 bigha land as per government rates is about Rs. 2757 crore today. This rate of land is according to the government circle rate. The actual market value of commercial land is generally four times this and up to 10 times at commercial or tourist places. That is, this land could have been worth up to Rs. 30 thousand crore. The Leader of Opposition said that the entire tender process was done to benefit one company. The book of accounts of all three companies have the same office address. Out of these three family companies that submitted the tender, only one, Rajas, fulfilled all the conditions. The other two new companies that submitted the tender did not fulfill any conditions. Both these companies were connected to Rajas in some way or the other. Arya said that the youth of Uttarakhand are suffering from unemployment. The government and officials are selling the land here for a pittance. This is a huge fraud with the people of the state and the biggest scam in the history of the state. He demanded an inquiry into the entire tender allocation by the CBI or a committee headed by a retired judge
BJP’s state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said that the allocation process for tourism activities at George Everest in Mussoorie has been done as per law. The land and resources of the developed site belong to the state. They have no restriction on the movement of common man or other activities. He described the allegations of Congress as a bundle of lies and beyond facts. Reacting to the allegation of Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, Chauhan said that in the year 1987-88, the then Uttar Pradesh government had acquired a total of 172.91 acres of land in George Everest through the district administration on behalf of the Tourism Department. In the year 2019, the construction work of George Everest Heritage Park was started under the Externally Aided Scheme (ADB Project). The construction of which was completed in November 2022. Under the scheme, infrastructure arrangements were created for the construction of George Everest House Museum, laboratory, five huts cafe etc., under Common Park State Road and other tourism activities. Work was done on all these works at a cost of Rs 23.52 crore through ADB. E-tenders were invited under Uttarakhand Procurement Rules 2017 for operation, management and development of aerosports activities at this property George Everest Estate Mussoorie. Manveer said that due to minimum availability of parking in the George Everest Bhawan complex, narrow vehicle route and keeping in mind the safety of tourists, the department gave permission to charge entry fee for vehicles to George Everest Museum and parking of vehicles near the barrier to the concerned firm on the basis of tender contract. He said that Congress is serving a negative vision by raising questions on the development process. This place is currently the source of economy in the state through tourism activities. Congress should first answer in the matter of selling the gardens of the state. Till date Congress has not given any account of how Matela House in Almora and other gardens were mortgaged
