Himachal HC notice to DGP, director Tourism

Shimla: Taking a suo-moto cognizance about a freak incident relating to death of 12-yr old Bengaluru child at paragliding site. Himachal Pradesh high Court on Tuesday issued notice to Director General of Police (DGP) and Director (Tourism) seeking replies on non-compliance regulatory mechanism and safety norms in adventure tourism.

The orders were passed by a division bench comprising Justice Trilok Singh Chauhan and Justice Satyen Vaidya treating a news item published on January 16,2022 by a news portal of a TV channel as PIL.

The news item titled "A 12 year old died at Paragliding Site in Himachal Pradesh. His father is now looking for answers." Has highlighted the grief of a father—whose son Advik died while on trip to Bir –Billing in Kangra district during their family trip upto the paragliding site.

On December 22, 2021, the family of the deceased along with another family reached the paragliding at around 1:30 p.m. However, they were informed that the take off point was about 10-15 kms away and only could be reached by jeep. Since Advik's sister was found to be too young i.e. less than 12 years for the adventure, therefore, she stayed back.

However, Advik along with his parents and the other family decided to go to the site. They were made to sign a waiver that stated that the agency was not responsible for any paragliding mishap, but nothing was mentioned about the journey to the take-off point.

The jeep, comprised two rows of seats under the roof and another two in the open back and is alleged to be bereft of safety accessories. As against the seating capacity of five passengers, nine passengers occupied the roofless back portion of the jeep. The driver and four paragliding pilots who were picked up on the way, sat at the front in the enclosed space.

A sudden collision with a two wheeler made the driver lose control of the vehicle, as a result whereof, the jeep tumbled over

into a 15- feet gorge.