Cwealth Games give a new lease of life to Bhondsi farmhouse

Following a high-level meeting conducted earlier this month by Dharambir Singh,the chief parliamentary secretary,it was decided that the Haryana tourism department,in association with the panchayat and forest and environment departments,will undertake the project.

The project,estimated to cost Rs 386 crore,will be initially funded by the Bhondsi gram panchayat. After the required sanctions are obtained,the government will refund the amount to the panchayat. In order to maintain transparency in expenditure,the gram panchayat and forest department will jointly operate the account after the funds are released by the government.

The farmhouse comprises around 10 two-bedroom sets,two larger duplexes,one of which came to be called the PM House as Chandra Shekhar lived in it,and a 10-bedroom guesthouse known as the Ashok Vatika spread across sprawling lawns and gardens that were earlier orchards. The entire place,including the PM House,is in need of a facelift having been left unused for years now.

Set against the backdrop of the Aravallis and a now dried-up lake,the farmhouse,according to locals,was a symbol of affluence till 2002,when the Supreme Court directed that the land be taken away from the Bharat Yatra Kendra and given back to the Bhondsi gram panchayat.

In the first phase of the redevelopment project,the bedroom complexes will be renovated. One of the smaller room sets may be developed into an eatery while most of the other bedroom complexes are likely to be thrown open as guesthouses for tourists, said Ajay Raghave,sarpanch of the Bhondsi gram panchayat.

The buildings will have to be repaired and water and electricity connections have to be restored. The lake and the smaller fountains have all dried up and water has to be either pumped in or rainwater collected to rejuvenate them. We will de-silt them initially,and in addition to recharging the water table the lake will also be filled with water. The lawns will be spruced up with new grass and plants, he added.

A committee comprising the sarpanch and panch of Bhondsi gram panchayat,officers from the district administration,forest and environment department,tourism department,block development officer,panchayat officer and tehsildar will work out the finer details of the project soon,with the focus on tourist-related requirements.

We are waiting for an official intimation from the Deputy Commissioner or the Director (panchayats) so that we can start arranging the funds. Permissions have to be sought from the gram sabha before the funds are released by the panchayat, Raghave told The Indian Express.

The project is expected to come as a boon for the gram panchayat,which has been promised a part of the revenue earned from the tourists along with the forest department which has been given the plot for a period of 15 years from 2004. The villagers have also been promised employment as Class IV employees.