Trade Bytes

Uttaranchal proposes to auction riverside

Industry reacts negatively

Anupama Sushil - New Delhi

According to reliable sources, Uttaranchal government, in association with the state forest department, has moved up a proposal to auction the riverside/beach for setting up of more establishments. The government is still working on the proposal with several aspects yet to be finalised, the source said.

The industry, meanwhile, has reacted negatively and is working strongly towards getting its opinion heard and get a few regulations attached to the proposal. Mandip Singh Soin, vice president of Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) submits that the Ganga riverside is an ecological haven and the people who already have their camps set up there are doing great work in preserving the environment. But auctioning will lead to new participants setting up camps, which will only damage the ecology.

He added that people running camps here for long have setup lodges and off-site arrangements for accommodation and it is not possible for them to keep re-establishing this arrangement every year. "Ironically till now there is no upper limit being set by the government authorities on the number of campsites that can be set up in the area," he commented.

The government was unaware of the possibility of such opportunities a few years ago. It is only after the private players' success here that the government has begun to make its share through different means and this time it has used the way of auctioning.