Baba Ramdev’s trusted aide Balkrishna gets Uttarakhand tourism project: report

New Delhi: Balkrishna, the co-founder and managing director of Patanjali Ayurved, was a shareholder in three companies that bid for operating a tourism project in Uttarakhand, according to The Indian Express.

As it turned out one of the companies in them was awarded the tender, Scroll reported citing the outlet.

Alongside denying any wrongdoing, the firm that won the contract said that it was misleading to equate ‘passive shareholding’ by investor with collusion.

The tourism board of the BJP administration in Uttarakhand in December 2022 floated tender for developing adventure tourism in the George Everest Estate near Mussoorie.

The successful bidder was to get 142 acres of land, parking space, pathways, a helipad, a café, five wooden huts, and an observatory alongside two museums for a rent of Rs 1 crore per year, according to the report.

The Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board was to develop the facilities.

However, it is reported that three companies that entered the bid had Balkrishna as their common shareholder, violating the tender rules.

In two of those companies, Prakriti Organics India Private Limited and Bharuwa Agri Science Private Limited, Balkrishna is reported to be holding more than 99% of the shares.

It is further reported that at the bidding stage he had 25.01% stake in the third company Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Private Limited; after it was awarded the tender, Balkrishna secured a majority stake of 69.43%.

The contract was awarded to Rajas Aerosports and Adventures in July 2023.

The report further reveals that the two companies that failed to get the contract acquired a 17.43% stake in Rajas Aerosports and Adventures in October 2023.

Alongside this, Balkrishna’s other four firms also ‘cumulatively acquired 33.25% in Rajas Aerosports and Adventures’.