Centre may clear state’s eco-tourism plans

Pratibha Chauahn

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 4

The Himachal Government is contemplating making it mandatory to seek forest clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest for all eco-tourism projects.

The government will make an amendment in the Himachal Pradesh Eco-Tourism Policy-2005 so that seeking forest clearance could be made mandatory. All 54 eco-tourism projects, which had been advertised by the Forest Department two months back, had to be put on hold and could be awarded only after the amendment was made to the policy.

The move of the state government to amend the Himachal Pradesh Eco Tourism Policy- 2005 will pave the way for leasing of 54 identified sites. Though amendment is mandatory for the state government as per directives from the Centre, the forest approval for such projects might be difficult to come through.

Seeking forest clearances will be mandatory for the PPP mode projects but in case of eco-tourism projects being undertaken by a department, a special purpose vehicle will be made so that the income accrued from these projects is used for improving these and strengthening infrastructure. The Forest Department has formed a Himachal Pradesh Eco Society which regulates all eco-tourism related activities.

The Centre had objected to allowing tourism activities on forest land in the form of eco-tourism projects as these were non-forest activities. “It is to overcome this objection that we decided to amend our 2005 policy and make it mandatory to seek forest clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest,” said a senior official. He said the approval for such projects from the Centre could be cumbersome and time consuming and it could lead to delay in giving the identified sites on lease.

There are five eco-tourism sites being run under the PPP mode in the state.

Though 10 sites had been given on lease in 2009, only five became operational and the remaining were surrendered.

These had been leased by the BJP regime in 2009 for five years and later renewed in 2014 after making a substantial hike in the lease amount.

The state government is getting a revenue of Rs 98.75 lakh from these five sites annually. These five sites are - Ala Fort Rest House, Dalhousie, and Shoghi Camping Site given to Tarangan Developers whose proprietor is Gaurav Jain, Barog Camp Sites being run by Sanjeev Kumar from Naina Devi, Chewa Camping site near Barog and Moti Kunah Hill Top camping site run by Dinesh Goverdhan from Solan.