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Solang
Valley (Himachal Pradesh): Adventure sports lovers in Himachal Pradesh
are jubilant as the state's court lifted a ban on paragliding after
a gap of one long year. Solang Valley, which wore a deserted look till
a few days back, is now again abuzz with para-gliders. Pilots, who had
been out of job for quite sometime, said it was a big respite for them.
"We have fulfilled the necessary conditions like arrangement of ambulance,
safety parachutes and now we have efficient and trained pilots. There
are so many tourists and the administration is co-operating with us,"
said Bhag Chand, a pilot and general secretary of the Paragliding Association.
Tourists as, expected are a very happy lot and are enjoying the sport
to the hilt. Sonia, one the several such tourists here said that she
has never done para-gliding before, she is enjoying the sport and the
thrill to the utmost here. "I have never done it before, but this is
a wonderful experience. That beginning scare when you drop suddenly
from a height and you are thrown was always there. But, I was after
all in the sky. It was a beautiful experience. It was really lovely
and even cost wise if you ask me it's reasonable, only 600 rupees,"
said Sonia. Private operators are organising both professional and amateur
paragliding in Solang with a single flight costing a minimum of 600
rupees. Prices vary on skills of the sports person and can go as high
as 2000 dollars for a week-long trip. Besides the trainers, small hoteliers,
restaurants, tourist guides amongst others are also ecstatic, as the
facility is certain to boost the tourist inflow into the valley. Earlier,
a court in Himachal had in last July stopped the sport after a public
interest litigation questioned the safety standards following the killing
of a para-glider and a young boy while flying. Solang, near the picturesque
tourist resort of Manali, is only the second place in India to offer
the facility. Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir is the other. The court has
also issued strict directions to the Paragliding Association to ensure
trained pilots, good equipment and ambulance service in case of any
eventuality. Paragliding started in India in 1995 but it was only in
2001 that Himachal decided to regularise the sport and exploit the tourist
potential. India has some of the best cliffs and slopes in the world
for paragliding but has limited takers because of the high costs involved
in the sport. Poachers become tiger saviours in Periyar sanctuary (Go to Top) Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala): In an effort to save the dwindling tiger population, the Kerala Government has taken up the task of reforming poachers into gamekeepers for the upkeep of India's national animal. The primitive Mannan tribe, which once plundered the tropical Kerala jungles, destroying the eco-system and driving the dwindling number of tigers deeper into what was left of their habitat, now risk their lives to protect the tigers from poachers. Forest officials also believe that by guaranteeing the Mannans a comfortable, legal income from its Project Tiger, the government has made conservation worth more than poaching. "There were people who used to poach animals inside the tiger reserve. But for the last five to six years we have been trying to rehabilitate them, provide sustainable livelihoods, making them protectors, rather than destroyers of the park," said Pramod Krishnan, the deputy chief of the reserve. "This is a great transformation. So in the process what is happening is that the ex-poachers of the park are now strong guardians of the bio-diversity of this particular tiger reserve. So we could strengthen our hands and bio-diversity of the park is also strengthened," he added. Currently around 500 Mannan families live in round, thatch-roofed huts in a new government settlement on the edge of the park. The men, armed with vintage bolt-action .303 rifles, work mainly as rangers and guides. Thirty-six-year-old Surindar Sumar, who was in his heydays one of the most notorious gangs, stripping as many as 10,000 cinnamon trees a year and earning thousands of dollars, now is a leading ranger marshalling 20 men. Though at 3,500 rupees a month, the work is risky, from a face- off with the poachers, to coming face to face with the tigers themselves, he still feels happy leading his men in his plastic and brown camouflage uniform. "We used to throw our money away on cards, drinking and fines. Now...our future and the future of the forest depend on each other. We are at peace with the authorities, at peace with ourselves," he said. The village women also make voluntary patrols, giving up one day every two weeks to slog through the jungle, with only a plastic raincoat and a green baseball cap with a tiger face on the front. "We realise now that we were doing such bad things. It was becoming a desert. Now, it's more alive," said Leila Kasim, one of the tribal women, who goes out on such patrols. Periyar,
sanctuary spread over 777 square kilometres of almost impenetrable jungle,
is home to as many as 40 tigers, 800-900 elephants and thousands of
monkeys, deer, wild boars and other species of wild animals. With patches
of undulating open grasslands and a meandering dam studded with the
skeletons of dead trees, Periyar attracts as many as 500,000 tourists
a year, all jostling to catch a glimpse of the majestic elephants and
rare sightings of the royal beast drawn to the waters edge. Though
Periyar's rugged terrain has always given tigers more protection from
poachers than the relatively flat and open sanctuaries situated in Indias
northern plains, the raid by tribal gangs for valuable spices like cinnamon,
vanilla, cardamom and sandalwood, have adversely affected the tiger
population. Incidentally, the Mannans also supplement their park earnings
with returns from a government-sponsored pepper growing and marketing
scheme. Hunting of tiger is illegal and trade in tiger parts banned,
but a single animal fetches as much as 50,000 dollars. Organs and parts
are popular in traditional medicine. Bones are worth 400 dollars a kg,
a penis almost 850 dollars, a tooth 120 dollars and a claw just 10 dollars. |
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