The Uttarakhand High Court has banned paragliding and all water sports, including white water river rafting, in the state until…
Rafting (PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)
The Uttarakhand High Court has banned paragliding and all water sports, including white water river rafting, in the state until a policy is framed by the state government to regulate these activities.
The two-judge bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Lok Pal Singh observed that there is no law to regulate water sports and they are being carried out illegally. The court has given the state government two weeks to prepare a transparent draft policy.
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The court was hearing a petition that stated that the government was issuing illegal licences to private companies to conduct water sports.
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Before issuing its order on 18 June, the court took note of rafting deaths every year due to capsizing of boats. The court observed that it should only be permitted by highly trained professionals.
“We are shocked to know that the state government is permitting camping sites on river beds. It pollutes the environment and ecology of the river and the surrounding areas,” the division bench said.
“The State Government cannot be oblivious to its duties to regulate and restrict the unauthorized activities. The white river rafting is a serious sport. Paragliding is equally dangerous if not regulated. The water sports in big lakes like Tehri Dam can prove fatal. These are required to be regulated,” the court stated, according to a report in the Indian Express.
“The tourism must be promoted but it is required to be regulated. The sports for pleasure cannot be permitted to end in disaster,” the court added.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Hari Om Kashyap, a resident of Rishikesh, who alleged that the temporary structures are being set up on the banks of Ganga and rafting is carried out by private entrepreneurs who were flouting norms.
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