Himachal Pradesh Government issues new guidelines in the wake of recent lapse by trekkers

Dream Wanderlust | Sept 13 , 2022

In 2021, Himachal Pradesh Government issued a guideline to all trekkers and mountaineers. The meeting was headed by Sh. Ram Subhag Singh, Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh. The guidelines were issued to handle the problem faced due to unregulated trekking being undertaken in the high altitude areas and accidents of Pin Parvati, Lamkhaga Pass, and Brua Kanda top areas. A number of important suggestions were proposed in this meeting to regulate the recent spate of trekking accidents happening in Himachal Pradesh. After much deliberation, the following suggestions were finalized by the chief secretary.

1. A user-friendly trekkers registration portal to be developed by the dept. of information technology with all regulations proposed.
2. A Nodal Department is designated for the purpose of coordinating with other line Departments, which include Forest, Tourism, DM, Police, District Administration, and ITBP.
3. Tourism & Forest Department shall ensure mapping of all the trek routes with their color coding and index all the routes/passes/tops. The season calendar of these events along with timings allowed for a trek based on its difficulty index/challenges will be developed accordingly.
4. A core group of members of the mountaineering organizations, mountaineers, and IMF to be formed to support the State Government in implementing the regulatory framework for trekking events in the high-altitude areas.
5. The active volunteers at the local level may be identified and included under upscaling of the Aapda Mitra Scheme of NDMA to be implemented in these Districts.
6. Disaster Management Department will develop an Aide Memoire addressing these issues and place them before the Chair after proper feedback from the participants especially DG Police, Principal Secretary (Tourism), and Principal Secretary (IT).
7. Director (DM) shall analyze the current regulations and check for any additions to be incorporated in coordination with Tourism Department.
8. As requested by SP Lahaul & Spiti. The present set of 2-wheel drive vehicles is ineffective in snow. Also, during snow due to power outages, Lahaul & Spiti district gets into a blackout and there is no power to even charge communication equipment. Thus, 4-wheel drive vehicles and Generator Sets will be supplied as requested by SP - Lahaul & Spiti.
9. Government of HP will sanction the Police Posts (Kinnaur District - Chitkul, Chango & Namgya and Lahaul & Spiti District - Sumdoh) in the border area as proposed by the Police Department. At present, the Police Stations are so far located that proper first response in matters of disasters gets delayed.

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With reference to the decisions arrived at the earlier meeting held on 25th October 2021, it was reiterated by the principal secretary to the government of Himachal Pradesh on 9th September 2022 that trekking incidents above 15000 feet are advised to be undertaken between the 1st May to 15th September. Mr. Sudesh Kumar Mokhta, director cum special secretary also advised the government of HP to restrict trekking activities above 15000 feet in accident-prone areas. The government was also requested to disseminate this information among the general public and trekking agencies to prevent any such trekking incidents from happening.

List of the Participants
Present in Meeting (Physical Mode):
1. Sh. Rajneesh, Principal Secretary (IT), GoHP
2. Sh. Subhasish Panda, Principal Secretary (Tourism), GoHP
3. Sh. Sudesh Kumar Mokhta, Director-cum-S.S. (Rev-OM), GoHP
4. Sh. Mukesh Repaswal, Director (IT), GoHP
5. Sh. Vivek Sharma, Senior Consultant (DM), HPSDMA
6. Sh. Parveen Bhardwaj, DM Specialist, HPSDMA

Present through Video Conference:
1. Sh. Sanjay Kundu, DGP Himachal Pradesh
2. Sh. Prem Singh, DIG ITBP
3. Sh. Ashutosh Garg, DC Kullu
4. Sh. Neeraj Kumar, DC Lahaul & Spiti
5. Sh. Apoorav Devgan, DC Kinnaur
6. Sh. Manav Verma, SP Lahaul
7. Sh. Ashok Rattan, SP Kinnaur
8. Sh. M.D. Sharma, ADM Kaza (Lahaul & Spiti)
9. Sh. Roop Chand Negi, Himalayan Adventure Company, Manali
10. Sh. Rajiv Sharma, Ex-Deputy Director, ABVIMAS

Critical Difficult Areas/Passes/Tops in Himachal Pradesh
1. Pin (Spiti) - Parvati (Kullu) - 5319m
2. Rupin Pass (Dodra Kwar - Sangla) - 4650m
3. Harshil (Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand) - Chitkul (Kinnaur) - 5282m
4. Kugti (5050m), Chobia (4966m), Kali-Cho Pass (4980m) (Between Bharmour-Lahaul)
5. Chandertal Area (4250m) {Rohtang pass to Kunjum Pass (4551m)
6. Shrikhand Peak/Yatra (Kullu) - 5227m
7. Hamta pass (Kullu-Spiti) - 4270m
8. Passes in Dhauladhar
   a. Kangra-Chamba Passes - 4342m
   b. Inderhara-Thamsar-Minkiani - 4343m to 4665m
   c. Bir Billing Para Gliding Site
9. Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) area
   a. Rakti Sar (Sainj River Valley) - 3900m
   b. Tirath - 4200m
10. People getting stuck in:
   a. Rohtang Pass - 3978m
   b. Between Keylong-Sarchu
   c. Between Gramphu (Lahaul) - Spiti
   d. Sach Pass - 4414m