Is paragliding safe in Himachal

Manali : With the death of another tourist a couple of days ago while paragliding in the Kullu valley doubts are again being raised about the safety of this adventure sport in Himachal Pradesh.

When your correspondent spoke to a cross section of people in Manali it came to light that often poorly trained pilots take naive tourists for a joy ride in the Kullu and Kangra valleys of Himachal Pradesh. And sometimes fatal accidents happen.

People say if the state government regulates these activities in a proper manner such incidents will come down sharply.

People also say other adventure sports activities like river-rafting, river-crossing and mountaineering are also not regulated properly in the state.

Upstream from Kullu your correspondent saw scores of locals who have started river-rafting shops on the banks of the turbulent Beas.Every day hundreds of tourists go rafting down the river.

But many tourists also want to know how safe it is in these rafts.

Many say most paragliding,river rafting, river crossing and mountaineering accidents happen due to carelessness and poor expertise of people offering these sports activities.

A local newspaper report quoted a paraglider saying that over a 100 para gliders are offering joy rides in the Solang hills overlooking Manali.

Many alleged that majority of them were not qualified to fly people.