[noidea]

This is the PMO's web site. I have just posted my thoughts about this incident and a request them to take appropriate action.

http://pmindia.gov.in/en/interact-with-honble-pm/

I would request all of you to do the same.

[tsk1979]

People take care. Situation can get much worse

[sudev]

On a much larger perspective think what happens when political parties or groups announce a bandh else where. The administration does not step in to protect those who may not be interested in the bandh or identify with it's cause. Similar is the situation here.

Right to bandh and force others is not what satyagrahe was as preached by Bapu. It was demonstrating peacefully and boycotting product. All this was done to call to attention some plight and seek redress.

Unfortunately over years in free India that right has been lost to forces of gundaism and this has become justified - though illegitimate - process to enforce rights of one set of people while trampling on rights of others.

I agree with the thought of propagating this issue as far and wide as possible. I think tourism ministry should also be addressed.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by sudev

I agree with the thought of propagating this issue as far and wide as possible. I think tourism ministry should also be addressed.

Kashmir which was like the "most beautiful place" in India, was reduced to nothing but a large Army camp thanks to the people's mentality out there. There was a time when every Hindi movie had some or other song which used to get filmed at Kashmir. Today only a different type of "shooting" happens there. Many of these hill stations have too much dependency on tourism. So once people start doing a "reverse boycotting" (i.e tourists don't go there), within one or two tourist seasons local people would feel the pinch. Off course they can go back to their old standard of living; but for many people it is tough to give up comfort when they get used to it.

But I also agree with the comments made by param22k; that too much of tourism (especially irresponsible tourism) would also have an impact on the culture, ecology of a place.

[Dry Ice]

Update: A local responds to the reports floating around on the internet.

Maybe she found it easier to register and post on BCMT than here. Sharing her post here -

http://www.bcmtouring.com/forums/thr...5#post-1140301



I am not amused by the response. But look at the positives, now they are aware of the bad repute that is slowly building up. It also means the news is travelling fast and wide without any sort of help from the mainstream media. I think it's a heartening sign.

[sachinpk]

One possible option (for which I would get bashed up the same way I got in the Karnataka RTO thread ) is to then have a entrance tax for Self Driven cars. I do understand the ecology concerns, and tourists not being bothered about that. So let the people pay a higher entry tax, or plan their journey to use the local taxis. Also on the ecology front (especially on polluting water sources etc.) the local administration has to perhaps raise a kind of 'volunteer corps' who are legally authorised to take action on tourists who don't behave well (like some states have Home Guards, or Traffic Wardens who have limited law enforcement powers). But it certainly cannot be vigilantes like the Taxi Union manned check posts.

Came back to say: Countries like Bhutan - I know it is a separate country - have very stringent policies on tourism. Again the country recognises the fragile economy. So it has rules which mandates using the services of the country's tourist agents, sets minimum tariffs for every hotel they have out there. And they also have a limit set for tourists entering every year. Their message is that, if you don't like these conditions don't bother coming here. Ladakh administration need not be too harsh, but there should be win-win solution arrived at.

[anilp]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Update: A local responds to the reports floating around on the internet.

Maybe she found it easier to register and post on BCMT than here. Sharing her post here -

http://www.bcmtouring.com/forums/thr...5#post-1140301

It's good if the people of Ladakh wake up to the threats of bad publicity. In this post, the reasons provided by this lady are ridiculous, to say the least. On the other hand, the responses to this lady's post on that thread were quite interesting. If true, the mentioned taxi rates of 10k upwards for a day are quite high.

What kind of distances do these cabs cover in a day that they can ask for such rates? Or is it something that we can simply attribute to daylight robbery?

[sonic_boom]

Sad to see this grim phenomenon sprouting up in Goa and Ladakh both. Not to trivialize the horror that the convoy members went through, but I feel these are growing pains that come as part of the package with a rapidly changing country like ours.

I have shared this on social media platforms along with the concerned authorities.

[tsk1979]

See this
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...kh-region.html

The target is to ban all private vehicles

[cUjO]

Just posted this on reddit. under subreddit ladakh.

Also posted onto advrider.com.

here are the links.
Reddit link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ladakh/comm...by_taxi_mafia/

ADV Rider Links:
http://advrider.com/index.php?search/67917/


Lets push this across all possible forums interested in tourism in india.

[mi2n]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Update: A local responds to the reports floating around on the internet.

Maybe she found it easier to register and post on BCMT than here. Sharing her post here -

Sir,

Maybe she found out that such fragile reasoning may not be appreciated on this forum.
My take on her claims :

Reply against Point 1 - The point of losing out to competition has already been discussed to death. This issue is not limited to Ladakh but is rather a worldwide phenomena. We, here at T-Bhp have always welcomed healthy competition and rightly so. It would be unfair to deviate from our stance now. More so, after this incident. These goons do not deserve any sympathy.

Reply against Point 2 - This is just a passing statement with no corroborative evidence. Travelers have been held up at the high passes, but none of them have ever mentioned excessive traffic to be the cause for such hold ups. She also fails to mention why or how an outstation vehicle would cause more detriment to the environment than the local cabs. It is actually deplorable to advocate the thought that a self drive Fortuner will cause more pollution than a rickety, old Mahindra.

Reply against Point 3 - Again this statement does not throw any light as to how tourists driving in Ladakh in their own cars litter more than the tourists using the services of the local cabbies. In fact, considering that the self driven car would/can be used as a mobile dustbin / garbage holder too, I will not be surprised if actual statistics shows just the opposite of what she claims.

Reply against Point 4 - This point is just an extension of her rant and seems to be extremely prejudiced.

General Observation - The way she started of saying that we have only heard one side of the story led me to believe for a while that the visiting convoy did some mischief as well , which she was about to reveal. However, her post soon deviated from the other side of "this little misadventure" story to a general rant. It terribly fails at garnering my sympathy. I leave the rest up to my fellow BHPians.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Update: Maybe she found it easier to register and post on BCMT than here. Sharing her post here

Originally Posted by mi2n

It terribly fails at garnering my sympathy. I leave the rest up to my fellow BHPians.

That user seems to have joined the forum on the same day the post was made and looks like that is the only post made by him/ her till now.

It is nothing but a feeble attempt to garner support.

Do check out the post below the same, that was equally interesting.

[prkiran]

Originally Posted by sonic_boom

Sad to see this grim phenomenon sprouting up in Goa and Ladakh both.

Pardon my ignorance, is similar nonsense happening in Goa as well? Was planning a drive to Goa later this year and this line is a bit of a shocker.

[sachinpk]

The way things are now going, it has come to a question of who would blink first - the tourist taxi owners, or the tourists. For the final out come, we may have to wait till the end of this tourist season.

We visited Leh in the year 2006. The first heavy snow fall for the season was starting (it was mid-October). And at that point of time we may have been one of the few vehicles who would have crossed to Manali over Rohtang La pass. The roads would most probably have closed a week after that. So even at that point of time, the hotels in Leh were pretty much shutting down. It seems most of the hotel staff are migrants. In the place where we had, we just had one or two waiters and a manager from Jharkhand. Did not find any much locals actually running any tourist establishments. And this manager from Jharkhand was to go to his village, stay there for a month and then proceed to Goa. Because the tourism season would have started by then in Goa. The Nepali cooks, waiters etc. all would have done the same. So what I meant to say was that at least in that hotel, there were not very many locals employed. And Paswan (the manager from Jharkhand) said that was how many other hotels operated as well. What are the recent findings?

I guess it now depends upon the will power of the locals - if they can still survive without the tourists, then they would do get the upper hands. How much of government level contracts would these drivers be getting? I mean vehicles being taken on rent by the defence forces etc.? In 2006 at Leh, the private vehicles mostly catered to transporting the locals, few better vehicles were used by by the Army or Air Force (on a contract basis), and the general tourist population was way too less. At that point in time drivers in Sri Nagar used to scare away non-Kashmiri drivers by giving a very bad review of the roads lying ahead (at Zoji La and beyond).

[Shanmd]

I think the administration should figure out some form of toll/charges/permits that a person can apply and pay for(online preferably) if they intend to drive. Or have better tie-ups with the local taxi people, so that people can choose to drive till there and then take the taxis. That is a form of business model that can work.

I have never been to Ladakh, but no place in this country is so enticing for me to forsake such obnoxious risks to my physical well-being and that of my vehicle, if I choose to travel in that. I'll say, "Thank you. I have lived & travelled thus far without having seen the view from there. I can survive till you learn your lessons and invite me a bit more warmly. There are many more places on my bucketlist".