HP Govt clarifies on leasing out park land

Shimla, Jan 11 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh government today clarified that no park land had been leased out to Shimla MLA for commercial purposes, saying that instead, a partly built up cafeteria had been leased out after following due procedure.

An official spokesman today said. The Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) had leased out the cafeteria near SDA Complex in Kasumpati area of the town to the highest bidder after inviting bids and following due procedure.

The state units of the CPM and the BJP had accused the Himachal government for leasing out park land to Shimla MLA, Harbhajan Singh, for commercial activities a few days ago and said it was in violation of the Supreme Court orders on change of land use.

The spokesman said it was leased out to the highest bidder after opening the bids in presence of all the bidding parties on September 15, last year.

The cafeteria was leased out to Mrs Kirti and Sunil Kumar, who had quoted a lease amount of Rs 73.10 lakh, while the second highest bid was of Rs 70.07 lakh and the third was of Rs 61.80 lakh, he said.

Refuting the CPM and BJP charges that land use had been changed, he said the partly built up structure was constructed as cafeteria for which the necessary approval from the Town and Country Planning had been obtained beforehand.

He said the structure had fetched an amount of Rs 73.10 lakh, which was about Rs 22,000 per sq metre, and was very competitive.

UNI