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Dushyant Singh Pundir and Abhinav Vashisht
Tribune News Service
Mandi/Kullu, May 24
Tourists have demanded that the cap on the number of vehicles going to the Rohtang Pass should be lifted as it is unrealistic to restrict the number of vehicles.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has restricted the number of vehicles going to the Rohtang Pass to 1,000 per day, including 600 petrol and 400 diesel, and also imposed a hefty environmental compensation charges on the vehicles — Rs 1,000 for petrol vehicle, Rs 2,500 on diesel and Rs 5,000 on all commercial vehicles with a seating capacity of more than six seats.
Manali SDM Jyoti Rana said 400 diesel and 83 petrol vehicles crossed the Gulaba check post today. She said the permit was given on the first-come, first-served basis and all diesel permits exhausted within one-and-a-half hours. She said more HRTC buses were pressed into service to clear the rush of the tourist.
Amarjeet Singh, a tourist from Jalandhar who had come along with his family, said they reached the Gulaba check post around 9am, but at that time, no permit for the diesel vehicle was left and they had to come back to their hotel without visiting the Rohtang Pass. He said they had travelled the whole night to reach Manali, but it was of no use. Seeing the number of diesel vehicles coming to the tourist town, the government should do away with the cap of 400 vehicles per day. He said Rohtang Pass was the only attraction for the tourist, if they were unable to see the pass, their visit was a sheer waste of time, he said.
Manish Kumar, who along with his friends had come from Delhi, said they could not get permit to go to the Rohtang Pass. He said hundreds of other tourists, who were in their diesel-run vehicles, were also denied the permit due to the cap imposed by the NGT. Tomorrow, they had to go back, but without seeing the Rohtang Pass, he lamented. Either the government should increase the number of vehicles or start online booking of the permit so that the tourist could plan their journey accordingly, he demanded.
The strike by the autorickshaw, taxi and luxury bus operators entered Day 6.
Commercial vehicle operators went on an indefinite strike on Tuesday to protest the high charges imposed by the NGT on the Rohtang-bound vehicles.
Puran Chand, president, Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, Manali, said the strike would continue until they got relief. The union had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the order of the NGT, which would come up for hearing on May 26.
The Manali unit of the BJP held a demonstration against the government and took out a rally on the Mall Road. Mandi MP Ram Swaroop Sharma addressed the gathering and said the state government had failed to initiate any measures to protect the interests and rights of the masses affected due to the orders of the NGT. He charged that the state government was unconcerned to the tourism in the valley.
District BJP president and Manali MLA Govind Singh Thakur said the government had adopted a dilly-dally attitude in protecting the interests of the people. He lamented that the government should have approached the apex court on May 22 and presented the facts about the impact on livelihoods of a large number of people.
Manali-Keylong road opens
Mandi: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) today restored the Manali-Keylong road for single-lane traffic. The road was blocked after a landslide near the Mulling bridge in Lahaul-Spiti district a few days ago.
Col KP Rajendra Kumar, Commander, 38 Border Road Task Force (BRTF), Manali, said BRO personnel removed the debris from the road last night, making it operational for single-lane traffic. The BRO, which maintains the 479-km-long Manali-Leh highway, had recently opened the road for traffic after several months. The road remained closed during the winter season due to heavy accumulation of snow.
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