Last Updated on July 3, 2023 1: 53pm
Guwahati: Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah on Monday took a U-turn and finally accepted that the historic Dighalipukhuri Lake in Guwahati, Assam was indeed leased to a firm while failing to state the name of the company or the person clearly.
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While a controversy had erupted in connection with the Dighalipukhuri being leased out to a private limited company based in Gujarat, the minister had denied the reports last week.
However, an RTI document revealed that the tourism department handed over the development, operation and management control of water activities, the cafeteria and the children’s park at Dighalipukhuri Lake to Ahmedabad-based ECHT Conglomerate Pvt Ltd.
Jayanta Malla Baruah denied this in his earlier statement but after the name change was reported, he took a “U-turn” and claimed that the lake had been on lease for nearly 15 years.
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Speaking to the media, he claimed that a person named Mehbub Ali was the lessee of the lake from 2009 to 2023 adding that now the lessee had changed.
The minister also claimed that the new lessee is from Assam but failed to give any data on the identity.
“The company or the address of the person might be somewhere else he is Assamese”, he added.
Jayanta Malla Baruah to justify the statement also added that the person whose company took over the management of the lake also owns tea gardens in Assam.
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The top minister in Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s cabinet could not explain much in front of the media regarding the issue and claimed the opposition is creating issues that are not needed.
He said that development in Assam is at a very fast pace and so these issues are being created.
The historic Dighalipukhuri Lake in Guwahati was renamed to “Entartica Dighalipukhuri” after the reports of change in management. However, the new name was only seen on the tickets.
It may be mentioned that even the price of the tickets was hiked after the “take over”.
The company after taking full responsibility, has increased the entry fee from Rs 5 to Rs 20.