Ban leasing of homestays in Spiti to outsiders, CM urged

Dipender Manta

Mandi, April 14

Representatives of Kaza gram panchayat in Lahaul and Spiti district today urged Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to ban the leasing of homestays in the Spiti valley to outsiders. They alleged that tourism stakeholders from other states were promoting ‘hukka’ smoking and other bad habits in the valley, which would spoil local youth.

Sonam Dolma, pradhan of Kaza gram panchayat, said, “We requested the Chief Minister to impose a ban on the leasing of homestays in the Spiti valley to outsider tourism stakeholders. It will be a huge relief for us.”

She said, “Kaza is the headquarters of the Spiti valley, which is a famous tourist place but lacks basic amenities. There is need to install streetlights at Kaza, beautify the marketplace, develop parks as recreation facilities for children and senior citizens and ensure proper management of traffic and cleanliness. So, we urged the Chief Minister to provide a special package to the Spiti valley for the promotion of tourism and providing basic amenities.”

Sonam said, “Poor water and power supply are the two major issues in the Spiti valley, which need to be addressed urgently. To meet power demand, we urged the Chief Minister to set up a 5 MW solar power project near Rangrik village on government land. Besides, we also urged him to set up a 66 KV transmission line in the Spiti valley and a substation at Tabo village.”

She said, “Due to considerable increase in the population of Kaza and the number of tourism units as well as government offices, the demand of drinking water has increased manifold. At present, local residents are facing an acute shortage of drinking water. They fetch water from distant places to meet household demand. There is an urgent need to provide a new drinking water supply project in Kaza to address the issue.”

Power, water shortage

• The Chief Minister was apprised of poor water and power supply in Spiti valley
• Sukhu was urged to set up a 5 MW solar power project near Rangrik village on government land
• He was also urged to set up a 66 KV transmission line in the Spiti valley and a substation at Tabo village
• The Chief Minister was also apprised of the urgent need for a new drinking water supply project in Kaza