4 Waste Trucks, 30 Cleaning Staff: HC to Decide on Gupta Brothers' Rs 3 Crore-Environment Damage

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand High Court will take up on July 8 the issue of refund of Rs 3 crore security money deposit by the Gupta brothers with the Chamoli District Administration.

"The issue of refund of Rs 3 crore security deposit will be decided at the next hearing on July 8 in the high court," said Vaibhav Gupta, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Joshimath.

Much before the marriage, the South Africa-based businessmen brothers Ajay and Atul Gupta had deposited Rs 3 crore as per the high court's orders with the Chamoli district administration.

After the high-profile wedding of their sons at the ski resort of Auli last week, the Joshimath Municipality has collected 240 quintals of garbage from the site and had to use three-four trucks daily to collect the waste.

The officials said there were no environmental issues concerning the wedding extravaganza and the Auli marriage site will be cleaned by June 30. Nearly 30 workers are engaged in the cleaning operations.

S.P. Nautiyal, Executive Officer of the Joshimath Municipality, said the Gupta brothers had also deposited Rs 54,000 as user-charges with the local municipality.

As per the high court orders, a group of 13 officials from the Forest Department, the State Pollution Control Board, the Chamoli District Administration, the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, the Revenue Department and the Public Works Department monitored and videographed the wedding.

Top officials said they did not come across any damage to the flora and fauna of Auli.

Since the court barred use of helicopters at Auli, the choppers landed at Ravigram near Joshimath helipad from where the guests were ferried to the wedding venue by cars.

The court had also fixed the numbers of guests at 150. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Baba Ramdev were among VIPs who blessed the newly wed couple. A bevy of Bollywood stars, including Katrina Kaif, performed at the wedding.

The Chief Minister had defended the marriage saying environmental concerns were not justifiable and Auli could be developed as a big tourist destination.