Hoteliers take to cleanliness drive amidst low tourist influx
Ravinder Sood
Palampur, July 18
With the suspension of all paragliding activities for two months in Bir-Billing due to the ongoing rainy season, the Bir-Billing Hotel Association today started a campaign to clean the paragliding landing area at Chogan.
No garbage disposal facility in Bir-billing
- The Bir-Billing area has emerged as a famous tourist destination in the past five years and is visited by hundreds of tourists daily. It also falls among the top 10 paragliding sites of the world
- However, with the suspension of the paragliding activities, only a few tourists are seen here. In the absence of heavy tourist influx, the hotel association planned to clean the area
- Over 70 hotels and restaurants have come up in the area over five years. Hundreds of tourists visit the valley daily for paragliding, but there are no arrangements for the proper disposal of garbage
The Bir-Billing area has emerged as a famous tourist destination in the past five years and is visited by hundreds of tourists daily. It also falls among the top 10 paragliding sites of the world. However, with the suspension of the paragliding activities, only a few tourists are seen here. In the absence of heavy tourist influx, the hotel association planned to clean the area.
Volunteers collected garbage within 1-km radius at Chogan. Over 60 members of the association, mostly local youth, are taking part in the campaign. The waste collected by them includes plastic wrappers and empty water bottles. Unfortunately, the state agencies have turned a blind eye towards the large-scale environmental degradation in the area.
Though the state government had already constituted a Special Area Development Authority (SADA) for the planned development of Bir-Billing, the SADA had failed to effectively manage the affairs in the absence of funds from the state government.
The volunteers, who are involved in the cleanliness drive, have no support from the SADA, SDM, Forest and IPH Departments. However, the paragliding associations here are taking a keen interest in making the area clean and green.
Over 70 hotels and restaurants have come up in the area over five years. Hundreds of tourists visit the valley daily for paragliding, but there are no arrangements for the proper disposal of garbage. The hotel association has, therefore, come forward to collect and dispose of the waste, marring the beauty of the area.
Talking to The Tribune, Bir Billing Hotel Association president Satish Abrol said to the protect the environment, the government should immediately set up a garbage treatment plant here to effectively manage the waste generated from hotels and local guest houses.
