Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government Thursday sought to trash the reports that a ban has been imposed on entry of Yoga teacher Ramdev into the state.
"There is no ban on Ramdev`s entry to any part of Himachal but he will not be allowed to inaugurate the first phase of Patanjali Peeth at Sadhupul for which the Cabinet has decided to cancel the land lease and the land did not belong to his Trust," Chief Secretary S Roy said.
There were reports in a section of media that a ban was imposed on the Yoga teacher`s entry into Himcahal.
The CS said,"The news is totally fabricated, false and misleading and no such instruction has been issued by the government."
Roy said that there were number of irregularities in respect of the leased land, and the project which was to be completed in two years was incomplete even three years.
"The land was donated by erstwhile royal family of Patiala in 1956 to Indira Holiday Home for children and could not be given on lease to the Trust and the power attorney on behalf of the Trust was given to Acharya Balkrishan, an aide of Ramdev," he said.
The process of resumption of land has been initiated and Deputy Commissioner, Solan has been directed to complete the process at the earliest, Roy said.
However, the Trust said that Yoga teacher was scheduled to arrive in the state on February 27 but there was no intimation from the authorities about the cancellation of the land lease.
"Ramdev is scheduled to arrive at Sadhupul on February 27 for inauguration of the first phase of the mega project of Patanjali Peeth and neither there is any official intimation nor any notice served on the Trust," state in-charge of Bharatiya Swabhiman Trust, Lakshmi Dutt Sharma, said.
"We don`t want any confrontation with government and would follow the process of law after getting the notice as the land was not usurped by us but given to the Trust by the government on a 99-year lease after following the due process.
We are not at fault and the Trust has already incurred an expenditure of Rs 7.50 crore on construction of buildings and developing other infrastructure, Sharma said.
"The onus for any case of illegality is on the previous government and not on the Ramdev`s Trust," he said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the media report, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal today criticised the state government for reportedly banning entry of Ramdev in the state and appealed the government to return the land to the Trust.
"The decision of the state government was undemocratic and anti-people and the due process of law has not been followed for cancellation the land lease," he said.
Dhumal said that under the agreement, the Yogapeeth was to work on fifteen herbs and purchase cow milk and cow dung from farmers to strengthen the economy of the state.
PTI
