Ski village to render several hundred homeless: Bahuguna

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Shimla, Jun 18 (UNI) Noted environmentalist and leader of the Chipko Movement Sunder Lal Bahuguna today said Himalayan Ski village, being set up in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, will render several hundred people unemployed after displacing residents of 70 villages in the district.

Addressing a rally here in protest against the setting up of the village being promoted by the US-based Ford Company, he said it would leave several hundred without any work as against its claim of providing employment to 3,500 people in the tourist resort.

Mr Bahuguna said the village being set up on 3,000 bighas of land at 8,000 to 13,500 feet height would not only cause irreparable loss to agricultural land but also make several medicinal plants extinct.

The land that had been given to the Ford Company on lease for 99 years would adversely affect natural water resources and several drinking water supply schemes in the region, he said.

Besides, he said the chemicals being used in freezing the natural water would contaminate water and render the land unusable for agricultural purposes in future following which several of these schemes had been banned in the western countries.

The environmentalist said the entire Himalayan region was under threat due to the setting up of the project, which would cause huge loss to the region's ecology.

Jan Jagran and Vikas Sanstha and Janhit Sangharsh Samiti were spearheading the agitation against the setting up of the 300 million US dollar project after the Himachal Cabinet cleared its detailed project report (DPR) recently.

Kulbushan Upmanyu and several other prominent people and locals were also present on the occasion.

UNI

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