Many thanks Gurcharan ji, Shrikant ji, Pankaj and Manoj ji ... your thoughts and perspectives are very interesting reading, it threw lot of light to what I could not see. Regards. Dinesh
On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 12:41 PM, manoj chandran <[email protected]>wrote: > Most of the muleteers are from Moradabad, Najibabad, etc and the total > number of mules during the season exceeds 10000. Chopper services can only > take the pilgrims till Ghanghariya. Choppers cannot fly to Hemkund as > Hemkund is most of the time under fog and cloud. If somebody opts for a > mule ride, then he will have to spend atleast Rs.4000 plus spend atleast > two days rent and also food charges. So, taking a chopper would not be that > additional an expense and also will save time. The major protest is from > muleteers and shopkeepers who think their business will fall. However, > there will always be pilgrims who prefer to walk to reach the shrine rather > than take a ride in a mule or helicopter. More chopper services would also > increase competition and the prices may also come down. The chopper takes > only 6 minutes to Ghangharia. Saving three days would also mean saving > three days of garbage. However, choppers and ropeways cannot cater to all > pilgrims, even those who do not wish to walk, because the total number of > pilgrims is too high. So, a ropeway will only be an additional facility and > will in no way reduce the impacts of tourism. Rather, more pilgrims would > be attracted due to the facility, who otherwise would not have ventured to > visit the shrine, which they believe is a life time achievement. The flora > of Hemkund Sahib has been the same from a long time ago, and the pilgrimage > also is very old. Collection of Brahma Kamal is also an age old practice. > These plants are perennial and propagates more by vegetative means than > from seeds. Also, they grow in very gregarious populations and it is not > possible to collect all the flowers. The additional facilities will cater > to decrease the impact of increase in number of pilgrims. The major issue > is garbage and mule dung. Mule dung is very 'hot' and as such will burn the > vegetation. It can even dry the trees. So, mule dung will have to be first > treated or composted and then returned to the soil. Even then, excess > nutrition will have impact on local flora and will promote more weed flora. > Regarding garbage collection and cleaning by the EDCs and pilgrim > volunteers, it is just a redistribution of garbage from the walkways to > other places. The so called collection and recycling of polythene garbage > at Rishikesh takes place only once in a while. More dangerous is the > developement activities at Ghangharia. Most of the hoteliers are > constructing their upper stories in cement. There are also departmental > constructions taking place using cement and stone. The Sikh Regiment is > concreting the walkway at Ghanghariya. These have resulted in choking of > the root system and hence drying of the Abies spectabilis trees all along > the path at Ghanghariya. And all this happening in a Reserved Forest area. > If the forest department or anybody say anything against all these, they > are just treated as 'anti-development', 'pseudo-environmentalists', etc. > There is no support from the pilgrim community. There are some volunteers > who clean the walkways, but these volunteers are just a few compared to the > large amount of environmentally-unfriendly tourists. We cannot stop the > pilgrimage as it is a matter of religion and faith. We can only educate the > pilgrims to be eco-friendly. Nature has helped by restricting tourism to > only six months in a year and also thanks to landslides enroute which makes > the journey even tougher. Some pilgrims even walk from Rishikesh till > Hemkund Sahib. May pilgrims want to do the trek on foot, but they are not > able to do so because of physical reasons, but they also have the full > right to visit their shrine of faith. Going uphill on a rope way to such > great altitudes defiinitely has problems of high altitude sickness, but if > they stay only for an hour or so and immediately return after darshan to > Govindghat, then it would be fine. > So, in short let us be clear that tourism/pilgrimage is not going to stop > and neither can be restricted. So, let us try to make it more eco-friendly > and give more facilities to the pilgrims to help them make their trip > impact-free. May be we have to sacrifice some land and flora so that the > remaining area is left unaffected. Let us hope that the ropeway and chopper > services will help in this endeavour. > But I see that no one has spoken about the greater trouble- the dam > proposed and under construction in Bhyundar valley. > You all may ask that I am a forest officer and along with other forest > officers still not able to do anything?!! Let me inform you that any forest > officer is just a small servant of the public. He/she can only advice the > public on the pros and cons, but it is the public who has to take a > decision. Just give your support to the forest guard and see the difference > he can make. In spite of all pressures and criticisms, they try to perform > and do their best for the benefit of nature and in turn humanity. But the > reality is that the public alienates the forest department and its staff > thinking that they have come from a different world to harass the public. > Somebody could volunteer to conduct a survey and find out who the real > beneficiaries of the pilgrimage are - the pilgrims, tour operators, > villagers, muleteers and shopkeepers from outside the state, contractors > benefitting from the construction, politicians, shrine authorities, > government departments, NGOs, etc? Whoever is the beneficiary there is only > one entity which do not benefit rather suffer from these activities- that > is biodiversity and the environment, what we call 'NATURE minus the > destructive man'. > > On Thursday, October 18, 2012 3:49:11 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Sachdev wrote: > >> Centre approves Hemkunt Sahib ropeway project >> >> *CHANDIGARH:* For convenience of the pilgrims, the Centre government has >> given its approval for ropeway from Gurdwara Gobind Dham to Hemkunt Sahib. >> The project will cost around Rs 75 crore and expected to finish in 2014 >> before the commencement of Hemkunt Sahib yatra in summers. >> >> In the first phase of the project, the ropeway will be operational till >> Gurdwara Gobind Dham which will be later extended to Gobind Ghat. At >> present, the pilgrims can also commute from Gobind Ghat to Gobind Dham >> through chopper services which cost Rs 3,500 per person. >> >> Hemkunt Sahib is one of the most revered places in Sikhism where tenth >> Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh meditated before his incarnation as the Sikh >> guru. Every year, the doors of Hemkunt Sahib open for the Sikh pilgrims on >> June 1 who can visit till October 5. >> >> Later, the Gurdwara is kept closed during the winters as the >> environmental conditions are not suitable for human visit and survival as >> the gurdwara is located at an altitude of 4,632.96 metres (15,200.0 ft). >> >> http://www.punjabnewsline.com/**news/Centre-approves-Hemkunt-** >> Sahib-ropeway-project-.html<http://www.punjabnewsline.com/news/Centre-approves-Hemkunt-Sahib-ropeway-project-.html> >> >> -- >> Regards >> Rajesh Sachdev >> https://www.facebook.com/**leopardguy<https://www.facebook.com/leopardguy> >> https://www.facebook.com/**groups/indianflora/<https://www.facebook.com/groups/indianflora/> >> >> >> >> >> -- > > > > --
