Sunday, November 02, 2008

Owners of two trekking agencies held

Owners of two trekking agencies have been arrested for allegedly sending the trekkers to high altitudes of the Garhwal Himalayas despite inclement weather that led to the death of five porters in September.

The five porters died on the way to Kalindi Badrinath trek after they were caught in a blizzard prompting the Uttarakhand government to order a probe in this regard.

Police sources said efforts are on to arrest the owner of New Delhi based third trekking agency, which was booked in the case.

The arrests were made on Saturday after investigations found these three trekking agencies guilty of the crime, the case for which was registered by Sub Divisional Magistrate of Bhatwari on September 24, they said.

Dharmendra Panwar of Uttarkashi-based Himalayan Adventure and Kapil Singh of Dehra Dun-based Mount Shepherd have been arrested while a police team has been sent to New Delhi to arrest the owner of Grand Adventure agency, which has its office at Shakarpur area.

Police investigations found out that they facilitated the trekkers of the two teams, including one from Australia, obtaining the inner line permit to go on adventure tour to Badrinath -Kalindi trek from September 10-15 despite knowing well that the weather conditions in the higher Himalayas might be adverse during the period.

An 11-member team of trekkers and porters from home and another 35-member team from Australia were trapped in a blizzard in September. While all the trekkers were rescued safely, five porters were killed in the incident.

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