Tourists have started leaving the picturesque tourist resort of Manali following a strike by the taxi operators against the proposals of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on movement of vehicles around the eco sensitive Rohtang Pass.
As the orders of the NGT is set to hit the tourism sector hard, senior BJP leaders and former Chief Ministers, Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal, on Wednesday expressed concern over exodus of a large number of tourists from Manali.
They said that decision of the National Green Tribunal on Rohtang bound vehicles culminated in the unprecedented strike by the autos, taxies and all commercial and luxury vehicles. This has dealt a big blow to tourism in Himachal Pradesh, they lamented.
The BJP leaders expressed surprise over the manner in which the promotion of tourism in the panoramic hill State was being hit hard by unwanted meddling by bureaucratic and other agencies with the free functioning of the tourism industry and imposing imprudent restrictions on the movements of the tourists coming to the hill State from home and abroad. Nowhere in the world such anti-tourism policies are allowed to be pursued, they added.
The BJP leaders said on one hand Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was conceiving to convert Manali into a Switzerland of India, on the other some negative elements seemed to be out to strike at the root of the tourism industry in the State.
They alleged that eye-brows were also being raised over the heavy environmental charged being imposed by the NGT which are unjust, deterrent to tourists and bound to hit the tourisms industry and starve those who eke out their living from tourism season of barely 45 days in the year.
Meanwhile, the Hotel Associations of Manali, Kulu and Mandi have expressed deep “anguish and anger” over the decision of the NGT which was bound to decimate tourism industry in the hilly state. They have also sent representations to the President of India, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India praying for taking appropriate measures against those living in ivory towers and ignorant with the ground realities and take anti-people decisions.
There is widespread resentment among the traders, Dhaba and Tea-Stall owners. The Hotel Associations of Manali, Kulu and Mandi have also expressed deep concern over the tourists leaving Himachal Pradesh