Dharamshala: Kangra district authorities has requisitioned the services of a helicopter to airlift nine trekkers, who are from the Delhi Income Tax Department, as they are stuck up in Bara Bhangal, a remote landlocked valley in Kangra.
Ritesh Chauhan, deputy commissioner of Kangra stated here on Thursday (2.6.2016), “9 trekkers, who are employed with the Income Tax Department Delhi, have reached Bara Bhangal from Manali. Three of them are injured but not seriously. Besides this, there has been a representation from locals that due to damaged conditions of the foot path to Bara Bangal, it is very difficult for old and infirm folks to cross over. A helicopter was scheduled for today but it failed to land there because of bad weather prevailing there. Another try to evacuate the stranded trekkers would be made tomorrow.”
The trekkers started from Manali but three of them sustained injuries while crossing over the high the Thamsar Pass. They, however, managed to reach Bara Bhangal village in the landlocked upper Ravi River valley.
The administration has sought the services of a helicopter to pick up the trekkers so that they could be brought to Palampur.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
Now that the govt. has let loose all manner of bureaucrats, of different shapes, sizes and state of physical fitness, in order to bolster their dynamism and decision making abilities, a word of caution would be in order. High altitude mountain treks of the Bara Bangal and Thamsar (18000 feet) type are not to be taken lightly, and should be attempted only by those who have experience of such trekking. Every officer should be subjected to a medical and fitness test before he is cleared. The treks should be screened by a local agency (say the Manali Mountaineering Institute) for assessing the degree of difficulty. Only well established trekking agencies regd. with the state govt. should be engaged for organising the treks. Since the Delhi lung is almost non functional, the officers should be allowed at least two days of acclimatisation before attempting anything above 10000 feet. Its a good thing the Bara Bangal group is being air-lifted out of the valley, because the exit via Dardi and Nayagram is even more hair-raising!