With this petition, I want to highlight and bring into focus a major safety lapse for our citizens when they venture out for adventure tourism like Paragliding in Himachal Pradesh. On 22nd of December 2021, because of such a lapse, we lost by far our most precious treasure - our 12-year-old son Advik.

I am based in Bangalore working in an IT firm. Along with my family, I decided to go on a vacation to Himachal Pradesh. On the 22nd December we decided to do paragliding in the Bir Billing area which is known to be a major tourist attraction in Himachal. At the location, we were asked to sign a waiver form and were informed that we would be transported to the take-off site through the vehicle of the paragliders. It was supposed to be a short ride and we sat an open back vehicle. During the travel to the destination, the driver was negligent and hit a scooty after which he lost control and the vehicle went into the gorge. My wife and I received serious injuries but are now out of danger. However due to the negligence we lost our dear Advik, who was only 12 years old, and had a bright future ahead. Post the accident the driver and the pilots were not to be seen and no one from the paragliding team approached my family for help either at the site of the accident or later on at the hospital where they were admitted. Some points to be noticed -

- This paragliding & all other adventure tourism setup seem to be unorganized & unregulated sector. There does not seem to be any central organization or policy in place for managing this in a safe & compliant manner. It's just a bunch of individuals running it in an ad hoc manner
- There is no serious concern or effort towards health and safety of the customers. The customers are being asked to sign a waiver form which absolves the paragliders of all responsibilities & accountability. The fact is that we are putting ourselves at their mercy assuming that they are the experts in this space.
- There is no concept of insurance against any such incidents or efforts to prevent accidents                                                                                                                       - There is no concept of end-to-end accountability (which should also include the transportation of customers)                                                                                         - There are no ambulances or medical facilities either at site or on short notice/distance

When doing research, we realized that multiple such accidents have taken place in the past across different adventure sports/tourism (including many in this location for paragliding itself) which has taken many innocent lives.

As a responsible and involved citizen of India, I place a Petition to the Prime Minister of India, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and others to ensure safe adventure tourism in India. I urge all the readers to sign this petition demanding the following:

1. Improvement of Safety Facilities and imposition of stricter guidelines for companies/agents offering Paragliding, ropeway, water sports, river rafting, or other similar adventure related services

2. Positioning of permanent Trauma Care Ambulance and availability of first aid facilities by the management in supervision of the Government Authorities. Offering the insurance to customers should be a must

3. Having a professional and organized set up of adventure tourism. A comprehensive SoP with detailed pre-conditions for organizations which want to get into adventure tourism and also the SoP on how to manage and operate, including what exactly to be done in case of any possible mishaps, etc 

4. Personal accountability, standardization of agents and their equipments offering such services. It is extremely critical also to have continuous and timely audits of all such organizations, and licenses to be revoked/suspended for any lapses

We know that whatever happens, we will not be able to get our Advik back. We have suffered an irreplaceable loss, but through this, if we are able to ensure that we do not lose any other Advik, this petition would really be worth it. Hence, urging all of you to sign this so that authorities sit up and ensure much more stricter norms for safety in Adventure Tourism !! We have a right to safer and more accountable safety norms in adventure sports in India. Each life matters !!!

A 12-year-old Died at Paragliding Site in Himachal Pradesh. His Father is Now Looking for Answers