Luxury resort Sukhvilas not new to controversy

Chandigarh, May 20

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Kuldeep Dhaliwal has once again brought former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s luxury hotel Sukhvilas back in the news. The Akali leader’s business venture is not new to controversy.

AAP has been critical of project

• Built at Palanpur in Mohali, Sukhvilas, a five-star resort, has courted several controversies
• More than land grab, as being claimed, it has remained in controversy over environmental issues

Answering a query at a press conference, Dhaliwal had said their next campaign to free encroached government land would be against VVIPs. He had said they would also examine the land record of Sukhvilas. “We won’t demolish the rooms, but will generate income by renting these out,” he had stated. He has spoken about certain violations in the project.

Built at Palanpur in Mohali, Sukhvilas, a five-star resort, has courted several controversies. AAP has always been critical of the project and has staged multiple protests against it in the past. More than land grab, as is being claimed, it has remained in controversy over environmental issues. While in the Opposition, AAP had claimed that as per the land record, it was a kinnow orchard, but was shown in the project submitted to the Union Environment Ministry as flat agricultural land without the need to axe trees.

AAP had alleged that under the eco tourism policy of the state, such projects could not come up on more than 2.5 acres. However, Sukhvilas was spread over 20 acres. Besides, buildings needed to be eco-friendly without any basement. But the building had a basement.

During the previous Congress government, even the state Forest Department was under lens for suspected violation of environment laws as it was claimed that a part of the land of the resort was still “locked” under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900.

Besides, the land acquisition notification issued by the government just a day before the imposition of the model code of conduct on January 3, 2017, had raised many an eyebrow. Finally, over 100 acres to build a 200-foot-wide road to “provide better connectivity to New Chandigarh” was acquired. The new road incidentally also gave better connectivity to Sukhvilas from the international airport. Earlier, the resort was connected through either the PGI-Mullanpur road or through the Kurali-Chandigarh road. Most complaints met a dead end as nothing came out of these.

The company, Metro Eco-Green Resorts, has always denied that there was any violation of environment laws and has claimed that all necessary permissions under the Forest Conservation Act, including handing over alternative land for afforestation and compensatory planting of trees, had been taken.

All attempts to contact Sukhbir Badal remained futile.