To preserve Tirthan Valley, gram sabhas will not issue NOC to tourism units over 10 rooms

Friday, August 6, 2021

In Tirthan valley in Banjar, representatives of seven panchayats have recently taken a decision that gram sabhas will not issue no-objection certificate that would allow the construction of 10-room hospitality units in the valley.

They decided on this to cut back tourism commercialization. Because of its natural beauty, the Tirthan valley draws quite a lot of tourists every year. Annually, number of tourists visiting this place is increasing. Slowly, tourism is turning out to be one of the means of livelihood of the locals over here. To evaluate the profits and harm caused by tourism to the locals of this region, on Sunday, a joint meeting was arranged at Gushaini.

Lata Devi, Banjar Block Panchayat Samiti chairperson, explained that the valley, including the World Heritage Great Himalayan National Park, had huge possibility for tourism and people would get employment as a result. She mentioned that to protect the natural beauty, environment and cultural traditions of Tirthan valley, together they would work so that the valley could be preserved for tourism for a long time.

Representatives of Tung, Sarchi, Pekhadi, Nohanda, Kandidhar, Shilli and Kalwari panchayats emphasized that the community tourism should be marketed in the proper way. The members commonly took the decision that it would be obligatory for all the stakeholders of tourism to get hold of an NOC from the local panchayat before carrying out any construction.

Varun Bharti, the Tirthan Conservation and Tourism Development Association president, explained that the locals of this region were dependent on limited natural resources and the construction of big hotels and resorts would cause a huge loss.

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