Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 26: High Court today issued notice to the Chief Secretary and Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) and sought response to the plea seeking ban on entry of commercial vehicles carrying tourists and passengers in the local area of the resort in order to avoid the congestion and save the resort from the air pollution.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice M Akram Chowdhary after hearing the counsel Arif Sikandar of an NGO issued notice to the respondents which include Chief Secretary, Commissioner Secretary Tourism, Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Chief Executive Officer (PDA), SDPO PDA and two tourist taxi stands for filing of response to the contentions raised in the PIL.
Advocate Sikandar while submitting before the bench apprised the court that two tourist taxi stands situated in the resort are registered and are having 600 vehicles for local sightseeing of tourists within areas of Pahalgam.
It has been added by the counsel before the court that the Assistant Director Tourism has addressed a communication to Pahalgam SHO mentioning therein that it has been a practice in the resort that commercial vehicles and taxis carrying passengers other then vehicles affiliated with the tourist taxi stands are not allowed to proceed to Chandanwari, Aru and Betab Valley in Pahalgam as already directed by the CEO PDA whereby SHO concerned was requested not to allow the vehicles at the entry point of Pahalgam so that the tourist can proceed with a vehicle affiliated with Taxi Stands at Pahalgam.
Referring the Master Plan-2032 for the resort, the counsel said the Environmental Impact Assessment Committee (EIAC) has also provided that instead of commercial or personalized vehicles, the local youth should be encouraged by tourism department by providing subsidized loan system for the purchase of solar or battery cars in order to save the resort from further pollution.
Court has also been apprised that a committee was constituted to study the feasibility of allowing the commercial passenger vehicles so that the MP-2032 is implemented and in this regard report was prepared and recommended that the taxis carrying tourist and passengers shall not be allowed in any case to ply vehicles in the local area of the resort in order prevent the ecology of the resort from air pollution and opined that there are already six hundred taxis in the local area of resort to cater the tourist in the area.
It has been submitted that these recommendations and directions of CEO PDA were implemented in letter and spirit till July 2021 and thereafter the taxi stands located in the area have initiated registering more number of vehicles with their taxi stands in violation of these recommendations resulting in causing enormous pollution and congestion of roads in and around the resort.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel