Tourists have left behind 2,000 tonne of garbage in Manali in two months

HARIDWAR: Whether it is pilgrims going on Char Dham Yatra, adventure sports lovers or those planning gala wedding events with the Himalayas as the backdrop — everyone may soon have to mandatorily pay a ‘green tax’ in Uttarakhand . The tax would be decided by the urban local body of the place and the revenue generated thus would be utilised for the area’s development and sustenance of eco-friendly practices.

The move comes after the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) raised the matter of escalating pollution due to entry of tourists in the Himalayan state in a meeting with forest and environment minister Harak Singh Rawat . This came after the recent weddings of South Africa ’s Gupta family at Auli which had generated tonnes of trash that took over a week to clear from the ecologically-fragile area.

