The Himachal Pradesh Government has announced the Himachal Pradesh Aero Sports Rules 2022 to control the aero sports activity and guarantee the safety of persons engaging in adventure sports.
In the past few years, numerous juvenile fatalities in aero sports accidents in Himachal Pradesh have occurred. The Himachal Pradesh High Court also raised the issue of fatal accidents and ordered the administration to establish regulations. In accordance with the State High Court’s directives, the administration drafted regulations to control adventure tourism (including skiing, water sports, and air sports) last year.
The government has announced its regulations for aero sports after receiving neither an objection nor a suggestion. Companies or clubs interested in bringing aviation sports to the state must register by the regulations. In addition, the location and rules for holding sporting events will be decided. Twice a year, registration will take place.
License to Untrained Pilots
The registered business must employ qualified pilots. Anyone participating in air sports will need to hold a training certificate from a Manali-based mountaineering institute or a certificate comparable from a recognized institution.
The government will establish a technical committee with a commissioner- cum-director of tourism as its chairperson to examine and certify the safety of the equipment used by operators. Operators must present legitimate import bills of equipment. Additionally, the committee will carefully review the bios of operators and pilots.
According to the court, the number of mishaps and accidents in these adventure sports and related activities has not decreased despite the composition of regulatory committees, and the most obvious cause of this appears to be the lack of overall monitoring of the adventurous activities by those in charge of affairs.
The High Court has ordered a halt to all illegal adventure sports activities.
On Monday, the division bench of justices Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Satyen Vaidya held a hearing on a public interest lawsuit, during which they questioned whether the state could really afford to ignore the repeated accidents without taking any corrective action, especially in the area of adventure sports like rappelling, river crossing, skiing, trekking, rock climbing, air rafting, and other allied water sports.
The bench stated that it had been observed that service providers, including operators, guides, and instructors, had disregarded fundamental safety precautions when giving safety covers to their customers, who were complete novices to adventure sports.
The operators must offer appropriately educated and competent teachers and guides in the sports because it’s possible that the bulk of these people is attempting the adventure for the first time.
No operator will be permitted to engage in aero sports activities, according to the notification, unless he has tandem pilots who have been trained and certified and who have the necessary experience to comply with the new rules. These pilots must be listed in a digital logbook with a good track record.
The technical committee will be required to convene at least twice a year, prior to the 15th of April and the 15th of September. It will also be responsible for monitoring compliance with the new regulations’ safety requirements by tandem pilots and operators.