A little less than two years after the land was restored to it by former PM Chandra Shekhar, on the order of the Supreme Court, the Bhondsi panchayat has finally decided what to do with it. At least 52 acres of it. It has asked the Haryana Tourism Department to set up a holiday health spa on it. And already 15 companies have queued up for the project.‘‘The decision on the use of land has been primarily taken by the village panchayat. After it determined the use, we started the process for the project to materialise but the final concept is yet to be formulated,’’ said Navraj Sandhu, MD, Haryana Tourism Development Corporation (HTDC).Because of the prime location and its proximity to Delhi, HTDC was easily convinced. ‘‘We have received offers from consultancy firms of national and international repute. Since it will be our first such big effort in the field of health tourism, we are being in setting up the project,’’ Sandhu said. Before inviting consultancy offers, the department had set the pre-condition that all firms bidding for the contract should have an annual turnover of Rs 2 crore, keeping small-time consultants out of the fray.Sources said the process of presentations by these firms would start soon. The department plans to study some reputed health tourism projects. It may act as a facilitator and may even invest partly in the project, added sources.The land measuring over 500 acres was restored to the panchayat in 2001 following a petition by advocate B L Wadehra. Chandra Shekhar had set up an ashram in 1983 at Bhondsi after undertaking a padyatra from Kanyakumari to Rajghat. The ashram was originally spread over only 50 acres, gifted by the Bhondsi panchayat to be used for charitable purposes. But when Chandra Shekhar became PM and even later, 500 acres of forest land was added to the ashram.
