Dehradun: Sudhir Kutty, a retired officer from the Air Force and a member of the country's prestigious Indian Mountaineering Foundation, has conducted a survey with an expert team on the impact of tourists in the high Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand. The expert team visited high Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand including Om Parvat, Darma, and Vyas Valley and after researching the local bio-diversity there, the team has sent a 3-page report to the Uttarakhand government. Kutty told ETV Bharat that in the high Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, which is completely untouched and very beautiful in nature, the influx of tourists is gradually increasing.
This survey has been done at the Panchachuli Base Camp track including Adi Kailash, Om Parvat at Darma, and Vyas Valley while the roads are under construction and facilities are being developed at these places. "The number of tourists is gradually increasing in these places and now tourism is at an early stage here. The Uttarakhand government should start a sustainable model of tourism in these places, if the sustainable model of tourism is not developed in areas like Om Parvat and Adi Kailash from now on, then that will be a problem. The sustainable model is much needed so that there is no side effect of tourism in this very sensitive area, which can be seen clearly in the pictures of plastic garbage coming from Badrinath and Kedarnath," said Kutty
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The expert team of climbers said, "if there is inept tourism in a place, then it is not only good for that person but for other people living there, and to avoid these losses, it is necessary that some guidelines should be made in the initial phase itself and these guidelines have been mentioned in the report."