Paragliding body refutes Mankotia’s charges

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 22

The Bir Billing Paragliding Association today refuted the charges levelled against it by senior Congress leader and former vice-chairman of the Tourism Development Board Vijai Singh Mankotia.

Anurag Sharma, director of the Bir Billing Paragliding Association, while talking to The Tribune, alleged that Mankotia had presented wrong facts before the media. He said Mankotia had alleged that the association received Rs 90 crore from the Tourism Development Board. However, the fact was that the association got just Rs 1.5 crore. The board had given the money to the association for being the official sponsor of the Paragliding World Cup organised for the first time in India and Himachal at Bir Billing.

Sharma said the entire budget of the Tourism Development Board was just Rs 10 crore. So, how could the board spend Rs 90 crore on the Paragliding World Cup, he said.

Sharma said the hosting of paragliding world cup had helped immensely in promoting Bir Billing as the most famous paragliding destination in the world. The number of flights every day at Bir Billing during the peak tourist season has gone up. A number of hotels have mushroomed in Bir Billing to cope with the increasing flow of tourists, he claimed.

Sharma claimed that the amount given to the association by the board as the sponsor was spent on publicity of the Paragliding World Cup in Delhi Metro, airlines and hoardings across various cities in India and Himachal Pradesh.

Mankotia had targeted Bir Billing Paragliding Association head and the Minister for Urban Development, Sudhir Sharma and levelled charges of large-scale embezzlement of funds while organising the Paragliding World Cup.