State sends own buses for tourists up to Marhi

Dushyant Singh Pundir and Abhinav Vashisht

Tribune News Service

Mandi/Kullu, May 22

Tourists continued to suffer as autorickshaws, taxis and luxury buses remained off the road for the fourth consecutive day today.

However, the HRTC and the HP Tourism Development Corporation pressed into service a few buses to ferry tourists to the nearby destinations.

Commercial vehicles operators went on an indefinite strike on Tuesday to protest the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposing a hefty environmental compensation charges on the Rohtang-bound vehicles.

Manali Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Jyoti Rana said two buses of HPTDC were pressed into services from Manali to the snow-point at Marhi to assist the tourists to visit these places.

She said due to a large number of tourists willing to go to the snow-point, it was difficult to accommodate each and everyone. She said two additional buses of the HRTC took 15 trips to the Solang Nullah and six trips to Marhi.

The SDM said 324 diesel and 44 petrol vehicles crossed the Gulaba barrier today and even a few commercial vehicles from outside the state visited the snow-point and there were no reports of any untoward incident.

Kullu HRTC Regional Manager Pawan Sharma said five buses were deployed to different regions across Manali to facilitate the tourists.

Puran Chand, president, Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, Manali, said the strike would continue until they get relief. He said the hefty cess would affect the livelihood of nearly 1,500 taxi drivers and their families. Taxi drivers had income only for three months when tourists visited the area, he said and added the hefty charges would put an extra burden on tourists going to the 13,050 feet Rohtang Pass. The picturesque Pass, nearly 51 km from Manali, is a major attraction for both domestic and foreign tourists.

However, rumours of announcement by an auto union of Manali to resume their services sent a wave of happiness among tourists and many stakeholders associated with the tourism industry in this hill destination. The restoration of services by the auto union would assist the tourists to get to nearby places of tourist interests such as Nehru Kund, Vashisht hot springs, Manu temple, Kalath hot springs and various other nearby destinations.

Though three-wheeler owners had no direct impact of the latest orders of the NGT, members had supported the strike call given by the Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, Manali. Manali Hoteliers Association president AR Thakur said imposing hefty charges was an injustice with the tourism industry in Manali. “For a peaceful environment, the government should maintain a balance between the ecology and the economy,” he suggested.

Restricting the number of vehicles and imposing hefty charges on them would not only affect the transport business but the whole of the tourism industry, he added.