Asian Rafting Championships will be organised in Beas river in Kullu from September 16 with participation of 25 teams from the Asian nations, an official said on Saturday. The event will be organised under the joint aegis of World Rafting Federation and Indian Rafting Association from September 16 to 25. The races will be conducted in both men and women categories. The race will start form Raison and end at Babeli with total length of the course about 20km. Kullu deputy commissioner Ashutosh Garg said, “25 teams from Asian countries will participate in the event in both men and women categories. A team from Himachal will also compete in the event. We have started preparations in advance. A meeting in this regard was called on Saturday.” The DC said the inaugural ceremony of the championships will be organised at Manali on September 16 and the closing ceremony will be held at Kullu on September 25. “More than 100 players will participate in the event. Different committees have been formed for effective and smooth conduct. It is matter of pride for Himachal to get opportunity to host this popular event in Kullu. It will help in tourism promotion,” he added. Indian Rafting Association president Saukat Sikandar briefed in detailed the different aspects of the championship. He also discussed about lodging, meals and other facilities to the participants. He also said that 15 high quality rafts are being imported from France for the event. River rafting and all other water sports are banned in Himachal following monsoon rains upto September 15. The ban is imposed every year after water level rises dangerously. As ban will be lifted on September 15, the championship will start from the next day. Kullu is a renowned destination for adventure sports including river rafting. Many rafting competitions
Asian Rafting Championships will be organised in Beas river in Kullu from September 16 with participation of 25 teams from the Asian nations, an official said on Saturday. The event will be organised under the joint aegis of World Rafting Federation and Indian Rafting Association from September 16 to 25. The races will be conducted
While people in Himachal are opposing the entry of tourists into the state fearing spread of Covid-19, Jibhi and Tirthan valley of Kullu are opening for tourists from September 5 with strict conditions. After meeting of the owners of hotels, guesthouses and homestays of Jibhi and Tirthan valley, it was decided that they will allow booking from September 5 onwards provided that advance booking is made for a minimum of 10 days. The tourists need to bring Covid-19 negative certificate which should not be older than 72 hours. Tourists will have to stay in the hotel for the first five days but can go sightseeing in the next five days along with a local guide. They cannot travel by unknown taxi and will have to bring their own car. Jibhi Valley Tourism Development Association president Lalit Kumar said they will follow government SOPs but have made them stricter but easier so that the disease does not spread in the local community. “We live in a rural area where all residents are directly or indirectly benefitting from tourism. We have taken this decision after long discussion and serious consideration. We shall make sure that only genuine tourists who fulfill our conditions reach here,” he said. The labourers brought to Kullu from other states for work in apple season have already resulted in a sharp spike in cases in the district. Local panchayats had also been opposing the opening of the hotels. The hoteliers in Kullu-Manali had made it clear that they shall remain close until the situation improves. Both Jibhi and Tirthan have emerged as one of the top tourist destinations where tourists go for long stays. This has resulted in the mushrooming of many tourism units in both regions in recent years. Although many villagers are still not in favour
While people in Himachal are opposing the entry of tourists into the state fearing spread of Covid-19, Jibhi and Tirthan valley of Kullu are opening for tourists from September 5 with strict conditions. After meeting of the owners of hotels, guesthouses and homestays of Jibhi and Tirthan valley, it was decided that they will allow
With Rohtang pass officially opened for vehicular traffic on Tuesday after a gap of five months, 52 vehicles carrying 293 people crossed over to Lahaul valley from Kullu. All the passengers were farmers who wanted to reach home for farming activities. With the first batch of vehicles entering the valley, Lahaul, which was cut off from rest of the country since mid-November, has reconnected by road. Hundreds of farmers who have stuck in Kullu and other parts of the state have been permitted to enter Lahaul-Spiti district where sowing season has started. Before this, 98 farmers had entered the valley on Saturday after walking for 3km across the Rohtang as snow clearing work on this stretch was continuing. The people are undergoing medical check-up before and after traversing Rohtang pass. Five farmers, who were found medically unfit, were sent back to Kullu on Saturday. The labourers and non-residents are not being allowed to enter the valley. The vehicles from Kullu were allowed to go till Rohtang pass from where passengers were shifted to other vehicles that came from Lahaul. The Young Drukpa Association (YDA) of Lahaul is sanitizing all the vehicles at Koksar that are bringing passengers from Rohtang pass. The association president Sonam Jangpo said they don’t want to take any risk. “Kullu is safe zone with no Covid-19 case so far. Still, we can’t take it lightly. All the vehicles entering the valley with passengers from Kullu are being sanitized at Koksar, the first village of the valley.” According to officials, an incident of the avalanche was reported between Rahni nullah and Marhi on Tuesday and it took over one hour to clear the debris. The freshly opened road with high walls of snow on both sides is still dangerous for vehicular movement. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) has stationed its machinery at Rohtang to deal with any situation. BRO has to keep clearing
With Rohtang pass officially opened for vehicular traffic on Tuesday after a gap of five months, 52 vehicles carrying 293 people crossed over to Lahaul valley from Kullu. All the passengers were farmers who wanted to reach home for farming activities. With the first batch of vehicles entering the valley, Lahaul, which was cut off from rest of the
All the buildings of the Mall Road, the main shopping area of the Manali town, will get the traditional look with kath-kuni architectural style under the proposed beautification plan. As part of the beautification of the town, the municipal council (MC) has planned to adopt the kath-kuni style which is being adopted by the local villages for centuries. Kath-kuni being the local identification and a mark of Kullu culture, in the first phase the local civic body wants to give the buildings of the major shopping area of the town a unique new look. “All expenses will be borne by the tourism department with the help of Asian Development Bank (ADB). We are waiting for NOC from the owners of all the buildings. Either Kullu or Manali is to be selected for this project. Hopefully, we shall get NOC from all the properties very soon and the project will be sanctioned in a few months. This way all buildings will look similar and beautiful. In Manali, we are trying to fulfil all requirements for makeover of our Mall Road,” Manali MC president Neena Thakur said. The officials from MC and the administration held a meeting with local stakeholders on Monday and discussed in detail about this project. The Mall Road area is about 300m in length and all the buildings on both sides of the area will get kath-kuni makeover in the front portions. This is the main shopping area of the town which remains abuzz with tourists round the year. Kath-kuni is the architectural style in which timber is used after a certain gap while building a wall with the cutstones. The long parallel timber not just gives the structure extra stability and strength but also gives it a beautiful look. The kath-kuni structures are earthquake-proof. At present, all
All the buildings of the Mall Road, the main shopping area of the Manali town, will get the traditional look with kath-kuni architectural style under the proposed beautification plan. As part of the beautification of the town, the municipal council (MC) has planned to adopt the kath-kuni style which is being adopted by the local
World’s highest bungee jumping site at an altitude of about 10,500ft will come up at steep but beautiful gorge near Marhi in Manali very soon. In an effort to attract more tourists to Manali, the government is developing different adventure activities which are either longest, tallest or are located at the highest altitude in the world. After making a 350m-long sky-cycling track at Gulaba, which is the highest such track of the world at an altitude of 9,300ft, the proposed bungee jumping site is at staggering 10,500ft from sea level. As the site has been finalized, the work on the project will start very soon. Manali based Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS) will supervise the construction work. ABVIMAS director Col Neeraj Rana said the jumping platform will be 182m (596ft) high from the ground which is highest in Asia. “No country in the world has bungee jumping site at this altitude. We shall fit four 32mm metal cables across the gorge and a motorized cage will take the jumper to the jumping site. The whole project is based on a latest technique which has been adopted recently by the New Zealand and the USA,” he said. He added that the purpose of setting up of longest or highest adventure activities at highest altitude in the world is to make them extreme and catchy. “We want to make Manali an adventure sports destination for the world. We are introducing all popular activities and are brining latest techniques. We are taking care of the safety and environment as well.” This will be the first and the only bungee jumping of Himachal while second in North India. While all other adventure activities are available in Kullu-Manali, the absence of bungee jumping was upsetting the adventure enthusiasts. The high
World’s highest bungee jumping site at an altitude of about 10,500ft will come up at steep but beautiful gorge near Marhi in Manali very soon. In an effort to attract more tourists to Manali, the government is developing different adventure activities which are either longest, tallest or are located at the highest altitude in the
In 2024, when you will visit Kullu-Manali for a holiday trip, your car or bus will pass through nearly seven long tunnels. In this advancement, a 2.9km-long tunnel has been completed at Aut, about 60km from Manali, on Saturday. After completion of all the 14 tunnels between Kiratpur and Manali, travel time to Manali will decrease drastically. The journey will be extremely thrilling and safe as well. Every time you will come out of a dark tunnel, it will open up to a beautiful and different landscape. Currently, there is only one such motorable tunnel on Delhi-Chandigarh-Manali national highway at Aut. The length of the tunnel is about 2.8km. Meanwhile, 8.9km-long Rohtang tunnel on Manali-Leh highway is also expected to open for traffic by 2020. These tunnels will also cut short the distance. Once four-laning of the Kiratpur-Manali national highway is complete, travel time between Chandigarh and Manali will cut short from 10 hours to 7 hours. Similarly, it will take nearly 11 to 12 hours to travel from Delhi to Manali. The boring of 2.9km-long motorable tunnel, one of the 10 such tunnels being built by National Highway Authority of Indian (NHAI) between Aut and Pandoh in Mandi district of Himachal, completed on Saturday. The work has completed five months before the deadline by Afcons, the company that has been awarded the tunneling job last year. A total of 14 tunnels are proposed to be built to make Kiratpur-Kullu road a four-lane highway. One of the challenging tunnels, work on which had started in September last year, is ready for final finishing. The boring of the tunnel had started from both sides with New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), the same method which was applied to build the Rohtang tunnel. The engineers from both ends met with each other in
In 2024, when you will visit Kullu-Manali for a holiday trip, your car or bus will pass through nearly seven long tunnels. In this advancement, a 2.9km-long tunnel has been completed at Aut, about 60km from Manali, on Saturday. After completion of all the 14 tunnels between Kiratpur and Manali, travel time to Manali will
The scientists will soon assess the tourism carrying capacity of hill stations of Himalayan regions of the country and will make a report on impact of tourism on local environment and livelihood. The scientists of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development are doing a detailed study on carrying capacity of hill stations. A meeting was held at the regional centre of the institute at Kullu on Friday where scientists, officials from different departments and NGOs working in environment protection took part. Concerned for the balance between environment, development and growing tourism, the scientists and officials discussed on various environment related issues. “The burning issues like environmental balance and security of interests of local people are coming to light while developing tourism industry in the hill stations. It requires a large, long-term and holistic policy. This was the reason behind organizing this consultation meeting so that a practical policy could be framed with help from all the departments,” scientist from the institute RK Singh said. The hills stations of the country, especially in the hills stations, get crowded during summer season. The crowd not only leaves behind tonnes of trash but also put extra pressure on the available resources like water, roads and electricity. Increase in traffic leads to air and sound pollution. The vehicles leave the roads jammed for hours. No agency has so far studied the safe carrying capacity of hill stations. The scientists from the government institute will be studying it for the first time. Scientist Vaibhav Eknath Gosavi, Dr Lipika Sharma, Dr Abhay Sharma and Dr Shiv Pal described how environment related problems and conflicts between different sections are natural during growth of the tourism industry in mountainous regions. “The institute is studying deeply to prepare the guidelines for carrying capacity. Detailed discussion
The scientists will soon assess the tourism carrying capacity of hill stations of Himalayan regions of the country and will make a report on impact of tourism on local environment and livelihood. The scientists of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development are doing a detailed study on carrying capacity of hill
With end of June, the tourist footfall in Kullu-Manali has started to decrease as summer vacations in most schools have ended and monsoon has arrived in many parts of the country. The hoteliers say its safe to visit Kullu-Manali in monsoon season as the highway has mostly widened and this is the best time to visit as hotels are easily available at reasonable tariff. They said enough snow is available at Rohtang pass and taxis are easily available for a discounted fare. The peak summer tourist season in Himachal has come to an end. The tourist footfall has dropped by nearly 50 per cent in a week. The hotel occupancy which was nearly 100 per cent last week has plunged below 50 percent. The hotel occupancy is expected to drop to less than 25 per cent in a week as monsoon showers are likely to bring respite from the heat in plains. “We saw peak tourism season for less than 20 days in June when all hoteliers did good business. With beginning of July, tourists start avoiding hill stations. July and August are the leanest business months,” a hotelier Ramesh Thakur said. Most hotels are giving huge discounts on room tariff to attract more tourists in off-season. The parking and traffic jam problem has finished here. The taxi rent too has suddenly dropped as cabbies are not getting passengers easily. Most of the hoteliers say this was the worst summer season for them as they did not see 100 per cent occupancy in June which is rare for them. They blamed long traffic jams, inadequate parking, unavailability of permit for vehicle to go to Rohtang pass and extremely high taxi fare for this. Most tourists had bad experience as they had to spend all nights in long traffic jams between
With end of June, the tourist footfall in Kullu-Manali has started to decrease as summer vacations in most schools have ended and monsoon has arrived in many parts of the country. The hoteliers say its safe to visit Kullu-Manali in monsoon season as the highway has mostly widened and this is the best time to
After witnessing a sudden surge in tourist footfall that left both hotels and roads choked in Manali last week, the hoteliers on Thursday said hotel occupancy has dropped to 60-70 per cent while traffic congestion too has finished in the tourist town. The long-weekend last week took toll on the infrastructure of Manali. As the maddening crowd and multiple traffic jams for hours that irked tourists have ended, the hoteliers said they are inviting tourists to Manali to enjoy cold and calm environment. The taxi fares too have come down to half of what was being charged until few days back. They said if tourists want to see the miracle of nature in the form of snowfall in mid-June, this is the right time to visit Manali. Manali Hoteliers’ Association president Anup Thakur said 30 to 40 per cent of the rooms in most hotels are empty. “We confess that tourists had to face some problems like traffic jams, non-availability of rooms, high taxi fare and room tariff. We assure tourists that things have improved now. The problem of traffic jams has almost gone due to better traffic management and spreading of tourist vehicles to other tourists attractions of the district like Hamta, Jana, Naggar and Manikaran,” he said. He added that rooms are easily available in hotels at reasonable price and buses from Delhi and Chandigarh are reaching Manali on time. “As many tourists are visiting Lahaul and Rohtang together, taxis for Rohtang pass are easily available. The taxi operators of Manali are charging fair price. The traffic at some points is moving very slow due to road construction works but we have got rid of hour-long jams starting from Kullu,” he added. Hoteliers said the availability of high mountains of snow at Rohtang pass has ensured prolonged tourism
After witnessing a sudden surge in tourist footfall that left both hotels and roads choked in Manali last week, the hoteliers on Thursday said hotel occupancy has dropped to 60-70 per cent while traffic congestion too has finished in the tourist town. The long-weekend last week took toll on the infrastructure of Manali. As the
माॅनसून पूर्व तैयारियों को लेकर जिला स्तरीय बैठक आयोजित जिले के किसी भी भाग में किसी भी प्रकार की आपदा से निपटने के लिए सभी विभागों को उपयुक्त तालमेल के साथ एक टीम की तरह कार्य करना चाहिए। आपदा के दौरान क्षति को कम करने तथा राहत व बचाव कार्यों में प्रत्येक विभाग और व्यक्ति का योगदान आवश्यक है। यह बात उपायुक्त ऋचा वर्मा ने आज यहां आयोजित माॅनसून पूर्व तैयारियों को लेकर जिला स्तरीय बैठक की अध्यक्षता करते हुए कही। उन्होंने कहा कि कुल्लू जिला अनेक प्रकार की आपदाओं की दृष्टि से संवेदनशील है और पहले से ही सभी विभागों को आवश्यक ऐहतियाती प्रबंध कर लेने चाहिए। ऋचा वर्मा ने कहा कि बहुत सारे ऐसे उपाय हैं जो अनेक आपदाओं को आने से रोक सकते हैं। इन छोटे-छोटे उपायों और आपदा प्रबंधन पर संबंधित विभागों को गहन अध्ययन की आवश्यकता है। उन्होंने कहा कि माॅनसून के दौरान ल्हासे गिरना अथवा भूःस्खलन जैसी समस्याएं अधिक रहती हैं। लोक निर्माण विभाग तथा राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग प्राधिकरण को सड़कों के आस-पास नालियों व पानी निकासी की समुचित व्यवस्था करनी चाहिए। उन्होंने संबंधित विभागों को आपदा की दृष्टि से जिले के संवेदनशील स्थलों को चिन्हित करके इसकी रिपोर्ट सौंपने को कहा। निर्बाध स्वच्छ पेयजल आपूर्ति सुनिश्चित करें आईपीएच उपायुक्त ने सिंचाई एवं जनस्वास्थ्य विभाग को जिले में गर्मियों के दौरान सभी भागों में स्वच्छ व निर्बाध जलापूर्ति सुनिश्चित बनाने को कहा। उन्होंने कहा कि पानी की कमी वाले क्षेत्रों में हैण्ड पंपों को तुरंत क्रियाशील बनाया जाए, ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में स्थानीय लोगों के सहयोग से पारम्परिक जल-स्त्रोतों बावड़ियों इत्यादि की सफाई करवाने की व्यवस्था की जाए। हालांकि अधीक्षण अभियंता ने बैठक में अवगत करवाया कि जिला में सभी पेयजल योजनाएं कार्य कर रही हैं और कहीं पर भी पानी की कमी नहीं है। अभी तक टैंकरों से पानी उपलब्ध करवाने की भी आवश्यकता नहीं पड़ी
माॅनसून पूर्व तैयारियों को लेकर जिला स्तरीय बैठक आयोजित जिले के किसी भी भाग में किसी भी प्रकार की आपदा से निपटने के लिए सभी विभागों को उपयुक्त तालमेल के साथ एक टीम की तरह कार्य करना चाहिए। आपदा के दौरान क्षति को कम करने तथा राहत व बचाव कार्यों में प्रत्येक विभाग और व्यक्ति
