Admn takes steps to check illegal paragliding in Kangra

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 11

The district administration is planning to tighten the noose around illegal paragliding in Kangra district. Kangra SP Sanjeev Gandhi said: “We are concentrating on three aspects for regulating paragliding, which means it will be limited to only approved sites. People should seek approval from the respective bodies and rescue facilities should be in place at the take-off and landing sites.”

He said a meeting was held with the Deputy Commissioner and suggestions would be sent to the state government.

The Billing Paragliding Association (BPA), the first registered body to control the events of paragliding being organised at Billing in Kangra district, was formed in 2006. It is headed by Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma.

It had successfully organised the Pre-World Cup and World Cup at Billing. The BPA is the only organisation recognised by the Aero Club of India, which in turn is the only body recognised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the governing world body for air sports, and the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA). FAI was formed in 1905.

It is learnt that people are charging Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 from tourists for paragliding in Kangra district. In Dharamsala, such operations are being carried out from the Indrunag hill and Triund, a trekking site.

As a competitive sport, paragliding has already featured in the South-East Asian Games and the Asian Beach Games. Paragliding was also shortlisted in the initial list of new events for the 2020 Olympics, but will now be considered for the 2024 Olympics. Billing, which is now among the top sites for paragliding in the world, was founded by Palampur-based local Naveen Sareen. Naveen Sareen and his brother organised the first competition of hand gliding at Billing in 1984. About 45 pilots, mostly foreigners, had participated in the event. For long, many foreign flyers used to do hand gliding from Billing.