Govt needs to be proactive in Tirthan valley

Avay Shukla 

The govt’s Home Stay scheme, introduced in 2006-07, has been a spectacular success as more than 1,000 units have been registered and many more are operating under the radar. 

The twin objectives of the scheme — dispersal of tourists and creation of livelihood options in the rural/ remote areas — have been served. But this success has created a new challenge, which perhaps the government is not yet aware of. Preserving the natural environment from its excesses and ensuring that its benefits are not cornered by outsiders. The lower Tirthan valley in Kullu is a good laboratory to observe how the scheme is playing out. I was in the valley recently and could not but feel some concern at how things are developing there. 

The upper Tirthan is within the Great Himalayan National Park and is fully protected; the lower stretch is also insulated from the rapacity of hydel projects by a High Court order of 2002. But this valley has now become the main gateway to the GHNP and surrounding trekking destinations and has started attracting increasing numbers of trekkers and nature lovers. 

In response, the home-stay sector has begun to bloom: between Jalori pass and Banjar I counted 20 of these. There are at least 40 more in the Banjar-Gushaini stretch and more are coming up every month. Fortunately, no multi-storey, concrete and steel hotels of the type that have permanently disfigured Shimla, Kasauli, Manali and Dharamsala have come up here yet, but they are almost certainly on their way unless the government wakes up quickly. There are other issues, too, as my interactions with the local home stay owners and Forest Department officials revealed. 

Defeating the purpose

It appears that a large number of the home stay units belong to outsiders, i.e. people who are not from Himachal, thus defeating one of the prime purposes of the scheme. They have either obtained approval under the ubiquitous Section 118 law or simply run “benami” operations. Some locals allege that the majority of the home stays between Sai Ropa and Gushaini are benami. In addition, fairly large “resorts” are being operated under the guise of home stays, thus evading taxes and also violating the room restrictions imposed on home stays. The Tourism and Revenue Departments need to investigate these aspects before they assume alarming proportions. 

We have lost most of our beautiful valleys to the rash of ugly structures calling themselves hotels and resorts. The sylvan length of the Tirthan can still be saved if the government for once demonstrates that it can be proactive. It should frame a separate zoning/ building plan under the Town and Country Planning Act for this valley, ear-marking it exclusively as a home stay and B+B zone, prohibiting the construction of any hotels and resorts. It should also not grant any approvals under Section 118 in the valley, so that the scarce (and increasingly valuable) land here is not cornered by outsiders. The Tirthan belongs to locals, many of whom have been displaced by the creation of the GHNP, and it is the state’s moral and legal obligation to ensure that they are not displaced a second time and that the benefits of GHNP and related tourism activities flow to them alone. 

Issues about solid waste management, garbage disposal and parking are beginning to rear their ugly heads in this still pristine valley. There exist no systems to tackle these needs and right now, it is every operator for himself with the river and the forests bearing the brunt, as usual. The onus is on the government to create an administrative structure to tackle these issues. 

Include areas under SADA

It should begin by establishing a SADA (Special Area Development Area) for the area to address these civic issues. There will naturally be some opposition from the local panchayat and other vested interests, who do not want the status quo disturbed, but for once, the government should show the spine to override it in the larger interest of the ecology and a well-managed tourist policy. Quite a few of the home stay owners I met said they were willing to set up a solid waste management plant at their own collective cost provided the government makes it mandatory for all units to send their waste there and also organise a daily system of collecting the garbage. SADA should also implement a strict building policy laying down norms for parking area, FAR, permissible height; no construction should be allowed within at least 15-m of the river banks or in forested areas to ensure aesthetics and as a safety measure. The massive damage caused by the overflowing Beas just last month should be a timely reminder of this precaution. The carrying capacity of the entire stretch between Gushaini and Banjar should be worked out and only the sustainable number of home-stay units be permitted to register. 

‘No time left’

The Tirthan valley needs to be preserved and its commercial potential carefully husbanded. Its benefits should flow to locals and not avaricious outsiders, who have no stakes in the area other than exploiting it for the lucre they can extract from it. We have failed to realise this in other parts of the state, but a beginning now needs to be made in this valley. The government should not wait for the National Green Tribunal or the High Court to intervene, as is the usual practice, but for once display some pro-activeness. It doesn’t have much time. 

(The writer is a former Additional Chief Secretary to HP govt. Views are personal)