Sidhu orders inquiry into razing of Pincassia resort

Tribune News Service

Ropar, April 29

Local Bodies and Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu ordered an inquiry into the demolition of Pincassia resort here today.

In 2009, the then SAD-BJP government had handed over the resort to Alchemist Hospitality to develop it as a five-star resort on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis.

Sidhu, who was on a tour of the district on the invitation of Anandpur Sahib MLA and Speaker Rana KP Singh to visit potential tourism points in the district, was informed by the Youth Congress leader Brinder Singh Dhillon about Pincassia’s fate.

Local residents present on the spot, too, complained that the resort on the banks of the Sutlej along the Chandigarh-Amritsar highway was closed even though it generated profit. Opened in 1975, the resort was surrounded by 75 acres of dense forest. In 2009, the property was given on a 65-year lease to Alchemist Hospitality. The group agreed to set up a 90-room five star resort within three years.

Although the bidder demolished the existing building, it delayed the project on one pretext or the other, following which the agreement was terminated in November 2015.

Sidhu, who was accompanied by Tourism Principal Secretary Jaspal Singh and Director NS Randhawa, said an audit would be held.

The beautiful resort at a prime location was ruined only to end any competition for the Badal family-owned Sukhvilas resort in adjoining Mohali, he commented.

Earlier, he visited the sets of Firangi, a film being produced by standup comedian Kapil Sharma, at nearby Patialan village.

Later, during his visit to Virasat-e-Khalsa, he said the government was devising schemes so that such museums could achieve self-sustainability. He said Virasat-e-Khalsa required Rs 12 crore annually for its functioning and resources were required to generate a huge amount.

He said a policy to promote tourism and culture police was in the offing. The 2-lakh devotees visiting the three Takhts in Punjab daily would be provided better facilities which would ultimately help in boosting tourism in the state, he added.

At Nangal, the minister and Rana met municipal council officials and councilors. Rana said he had invited the minister so that he could see the misuse of funds of the rich civic body of Nangal during the previous regime. Sidhu said while a financial and technical audit of works carried out by a few corporations and other local bodies during last government was underway, they had decided to bring maximum transparency in their working.