Following increasing cases of accidents in adventure tourism activities in Kullu, the district administration has ordered to seal the unauthorized paragliding sites and take strict action on illegal river rafting in Beas. Kullu deputy commissioner Yunus ordered SDMs and district tourism and development officer to destroy the paragliding infrastructure at Dobhi, Talogi, and Bijli Mahadev. He said these are the hotspots for unauthorized paragliding. Three persons, including a tourist from Kerala, have died in paragliding mishaps at Dobhi recently. Every year many tourists die while experiencing adventure activities like paragliding, river rafting, and hiking. After administration received many complaints of river rafting at unauthorized stretches of Beas, it has tightened the screw on the operators and said nobody has the right to play with the lives of innocent people. He ordered operators to ensure use of safety equipment and operate only on government authorized area. The administration has also imposed ba an on display of river rafting hording and the opening of booking counters along the national highway in Kullu-Manali. Rafting operators have been asked to make their rules in favour of better tourism and safety of tourists and deposit it with Dthe C office within 10 days. DC said associations would be responsible for the safety of the tourists. He asked paragliding and rafting operators to fix the charges for the services and display rates at appropriate places. He also ordered the tourism department to print pamphlets with rates of the activities and distribute among tourists. “We shall apply no tolerance policy on adventure sports. We are not against the activities and the operators who are earning their livelihood but we are against unauthorized activities. We receive many complaints regarding lack of safety from tourists and local residents,” Yunus said. He added that new regulations are being prepared for
Following increasing cases of accidents in adventure tourism activities in Kullu, the district administration has ordered to seal the unauthorized paragliding sites and take strict action on illegal river rafting in Beas. Kullu deputy commissioner Yunus ordered SDMs and district tourism and development officer to destroy the paragliding infrastructure at Dobhi, Talogi, and Bijli Mahadev.
