MUMBAI, JUNE 6: If Sahara India can do it, so can Esselworld. Armed with the knowledge that the Congress-led Democratic Front Government has approved Sahara India's multi-crore Amby valley tourism project, Esselworld too has proposed to develop a Rs 3,000 crore hill station in the Mawal-Mulshi belt in Pune district. Esselworld owner Ashok Goel submitted his proposal in an hour-long presentation before Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal. He also highlighted the problems faced by his amusement park near Borivali during the meeting. Goel told the Chief Minister during the presentation that he was proposing to develop the Mawal-Mulshi area into a hill station provided it was granted permission for purchasing or procuring atleast 2,000 hectares of land, a senior official of the tourism department said. The official said under the existing rules and legislations, legally it was not possible for Esselworld to buy such a huge piece of land. And if it was not in possession of atleast 2,000 hectares of land, it would not get the concessions as well as benefits normally given for hill station projects. ``The Esselworld has asked the Government to relax the conditions for purchase of agriculture land so that it can claim concessions declared for the tourism sector. It has proposed that it will develop it on the lines of either Mahabaleshwar or Matheran,'' the official added. During the meeting, Esselworld's main emphasis was that the Congress-led Democratic Front Government should boost its activities, since the Government was also benefited by such projects. Significantly, the then Chief Minister Narayan Rane had granted permission to Sahara following a Supreme Court verdict to consider the application of the tourism project afresh and then take a decision. However, after the Congress-led Democratic Front assumed power, Vilasrao Deshmukh stayed all the decisions taken by the earlier government. Subsequently, on the revised application submitted by Sahara, Deshmukh had unconditionally cleared the project. Meanwhile, elaborating on the problems of Esselworld Amusement park near Borivli, Goel asked the government to extend financial assistance for construction of two approach bridges, adequate water supply for Manori village and setting up a special planning authority on the lines of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, for the area. Since there is no approach bridge, the management asked the Government to extend necessary financial assistance. However, the proposal was rejected by Bhujbal, who also holds the tourism portfolio, saying that since the proposed bridge will be used exclusively by park visitors, it should bear the entire cost. Bhujbal even suggested that the management should construct the bridge from its own resources and recover the cost by levying toll on the visitors. ``Bhujbal has made it clear that the Government will not bear the cost. Whatever decision has to be taken, it should be taken by the park management,'' the official added. Secondly, the management urged the Chief Minister that owing to the coastal regulation zone regulation, certain developmental work has been stopped, as such the State Government should take it up with the Centre so that the dispute is resolved in a time-bound period. Thirdly, it proposed that the existing entertainment tax should be made more reasonable. The Chief Minister gave a sympathetic hearing to the proposal but was non-committal, the official added.
