Above: White water rafting in Dehradun, Uttarakhand (file pic)/Photo: UNI

Recognizing that the water sports in Uttarakhand was resulting into the loss of lives, the Uttarakhand High Court on Friday (June 22) ordered a ban on the water sports in the state including river water rafting and paragliding.

The order came when division bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Lok Pal Singh found out that the water sports in Uttarakhand were being carried out without any proper policy and regulation by the Uttarakhand government.

The bench gave the government two weeks time to put in place a law regulating the water sports and barred the water sports until then.

“Sports and pleasure cannot be permitted to end in disaster. We are shocked to know that the state government is permitting camping sites on river beds. It pollutes the environment and ecology of the river and the surrounding areas,” the bench stated.

The bench was acting on the PIL filed by Rishikesh-based social activist Hari Om Kashyap alleging that rafting is carried out by the private entrepreneurs in the river Ganga without any legal sanction.

—India Legal Bureau