HC: Was any land allotted for Ramdev’s food park?

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday sought to know from Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority whether any land had been allotted to yoga guru Baba Ramdev or any of his associate or company, directly or indirectly involved in setting up a food park in Noida (Gautam Budh Nagar).

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday sought to know from Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) whether any land had been allotted to yoga guru Baba Ramdev or any of his associate or company, directly or indirectly involved in setting up a food park in Noida (Gautam Budh Nagar).

The high court bench, comprising justice Tarun Agarwala and justice Ajay Bhanot, has sought YEIDA’s reply on Wednesday.

One Ausaf (he goes by one name), a land owner of Gautam Budh Nagar, had challenged the alleged allotment of 4,500 acres of land in favour of Patanjali Yog Ltd in Noida.

In his petition, Ausaf also expressed apprehension that for establishment of an industry/ food plaza by the Patanjali more than 6,000 trees would be cut down, which will result in huge damage to the environment.

Ausaf also stated in his petition that 200 bighas of land was given to him by YEIDA on lease for 30 years for plantation of trees.

He further alleged that the land had now been allotted to Patanjali for construction of a food park. He termed the alleged allotment of his land to Patanjali as illegal and contrary to the lease deed.

During the course of hearing on Tuesday, the state government and YEIDA took contradictory stands.

While YEIDA said neither its officers went to cut any tree on the disputed land nor any tree existed on it, the state government claimed that the authority’s officers went to the land to cut trees and that at least 300 trees existed on it.

“It seems cover-up operations are going on. Neither the government, nor the authority is ready to answer whose JCB machines were used to pull down trees,” the court had observed during hearing on an earlier date.

Attempts by HT to get Haridwar-based Patanjali’s views on the issue did not get a response.