Uttarakhand / Haridwar : Tourism businessmen warned of big agitation for not starting Chardham Yatra

Announced to show black flags to Chief Minister, City MLA, Tourism Minister, Transport Minister
In a meeting of the United Front of the 12 organizations of tourism businessmen, they have demanded from the government to start the Chardham Yatra at the earliest. Addressing the meeting chaired by Arvind Khaneja, United Front convener Abhishek Ahluwalia said that Chardham Yatra, a symbol of faith of Hindu society, is the lifeline of Uttarakhand’s tourism business. Millions of people are directly connected with the tourism business. But due to non-operation of Chardham Yatra for the second consecutive year, tourism businessmen, drivers, vehicle owners are facing huge financial crisis. Therefore, the government should start the Chardham Yatra as soon as possible. Taxi Maxi Association president Girish Bhatia said that the government and the transport minister are not helping the completely stricken transport businessmen. Despite repeated demands, no relief, tax waiver and exemption in insurance is being given. He said that relief should be given to all the traders associated with Taxi Maxi at the earliest. Tour Operators Association’s Deepak Bhalla and Anjit Kumar said that the relief announced by the government for the people associated with tourism should be given without delay. Vijay Shukla said that when the government can open the school, then banning the Char Dham Yatra is beyond comprehension. Sanjay Sharma said that the government is not living up to the expectations. Due to which public sentiments are getting hurt. In the coming time, the government may have to pay a big price for this. Ajay Dabral said that the Chardham Yatra would have been going smoothly if the government had put forth its stand properly in the High Court. He said that it is the responsibility of the government to provide basic infrastructure. So that the Chardham Yatra can go on safely and smoothly. Senior travel businessman Arjun Saini said that if the government does not start Charyatra at the earliest, then agitations will be organized in the entire state. Sunil Jaiswal of Tempo Travel Association said that motorists have become unable to pay bank installments and any kind of government tax. If the government does not provide a suitable discount, then all the vehicles will be handed over to the government. Senior travel businessman Iqbal Singh said that the tourism minister is ignoring the problems of the aggrieved tourism businessmen. Mahesh Gaur, president of Dharamshala Defense Committee, announced his support to the movement of tourism businessmen from all 400 Dharamshalas of Haridwar. Sunil Sethi said that tourism businessmen should unite and move towards a big movement. Harish Bhatia said that the age limit of all taxi vehicles should be increased and the process of surrendering the vehicle should be simplified and allowed to surrender for a longer period. Anuj Singhal appealed that all the businessmen associated with tourism should now participate in a big movement against the government to start the Chardham Yatra united without delay. The office bearers of other institutions also expressed their views. It was unanimously decided in the meeting that if the problems are not resolved soon, then black flags will be shown to the Chief Minister, City MLA, Tourism Minister, Transport Minister after finding them. Along with this, along with other stakeholders in the entire state, there will be a demonstration at the Chief Minister’s residence in Dehradun. Guru Chaman Singh conducted the meeting. In the meeting, Anuj Singhal, Gurchaman Singh, Chandrakant Sharma, Balbir Negi, Deepak Upadhyay, Mukesh Giri, Som Pradhan, Avtar Singh, Vikram Rana, Pankaj Negi, Sanjay Naithani, Ranjit Singh, Nirmal Dhillon, Shammi Khurana, Anjit Singh, Puneet Ahuja, Subhash Goswami, Harish Bhatia, Sunny Damir, Harish Patel, Sunil Pal, Lalit Kumar, Chandrakant Kothari, Deepak Kapoor, Radhe, Ravindra Kumar, Bhuvan Goswami, Dharampal Singh, Akil Mistry, Afzal Mistry, Mo. Afzal, Amit Walia, Deepak Sethi , Raju Chauhan, Lalit Kukreti, Naveen Bhatia, Shashi Ranjan Thakur, Akhilesh Singh, Rajkumar, Ajay Dabral etc. were prominently present.