A man from Punjab who lost his 23-year-old son in a paragliding accident in Himachal Pradesh's Solang Valley in May met Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and urged him to improve safety facilities at all adventure sport locations.
Inderbir Sobti, a hotelier from Punjab, asked Thakur to ensure paragliding, ropeway and other similar adventure-themed services were safe.
Speaking to PTI after meeting the chief minister on Wednesday evening, Sobti said he and his family met Thakur at his official Oakover residence.
Sobti lost his son Amandeep, 23, to a paragliding accident in Solang valley on May 18.
He rued the absence of "proper emergency medical attention" in his son's final moments.
Also Read
"My family was shaken by Amandeep's death. We wish nobody else should to go through the same. So, we have vowed to create awareness about the lack of medical facilities at adventure tourism sites and started a petition at change.org," he added.
In just a month, Inderbir's petition has been endorsed by over 1 lakh signatures.
While submitting his petition to Thakur, Sobti said, "One lakh people request you to protect tourists in Himachal Pradesh."
Sobti told Thakur all adventure tourism operators must mandatorily provide emergency health and trauma care services at all sites.
He said tour agents who offer adventure tourism should be forced to adhere to strict guidelines.
The Punjab hotelier requested the chief minister to ensure trauma care ambulances with first-aid facilities be made available.
Sobti said trained and licensed adventure sport operators should only be hired.
Change.org is the world's largest online platform for social change which allows people to support campaigns they care for.
Change.org does not start petitions on its own. Currently, over 1.7 crore people use Change.org in India, Communication Strategist for Change.org in India Deepshikha Shanker told PTI.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
