Officials inspect paragliding take-off site in Yelagiri Hills to revive aero sports
Vellore
Giving a hope to the adventure sports lovers to revive the aero sports in Yelagiri Hills, the authorities of the district administration has taken a step forward to make the hills into South India’s paragliding destination.
Collector S A Raman led a team of officials from revenue, forest, DRDA and police departments to the Poorman’s Ooty to inspect the defunct take-off site on Saturday. The officials walked amidst the extensive growth of lantana and shrubs after the forest department personnel cleared the bridle path leading to the Ramakrishna Mutt take-off site, which was rated high in the national and international forums of paragliders after the 2009’s inaugural Paragliding festival. There were two other take-off sites in the hills, namely Hanuman site in Muthanur village and Rayaneri site in Rayaneri village.
After the instant hit of the aero sports in 2009, the second edition of the festival in the following year attracted gliders from across the country and abroad. Over 80 gliders, including around 10 gliders from France, Germany and Switzerland, flew and took the hill station to a new height in the country’s map of adventure sports. Gliders Vijay Soni and Dileep Kotecha from Pune set a record by flying for 100 kms (out and return) during the festival.
Yelagiri Paragliding Club and Yelagiri Adventure Sports Association (YASA) decided to train the local youths to promote tandem paragliding to create a sustainable livelihood for the locals, besides promoting the sports. However, the efforts of the sports lovers did not pay off due to lack of support from authorities.
After repeated representations, the authorities have decided to look into the feasibility of reviving the adventure sports to promote tourism in the humble hills. “We have visited the sites to access the ground reality and also discussed the pros and cons of reviving paragliding in the hill. The paragliders requested to clear the bushes and maintain the take-off sites to promote the sports,” Collector Raman told TOI.
He added that they would convene a meeting with the officials of Forest, Police, Revenue, Tourism departments and other stakeholders to discuss on various issues related to it. “After the meeting with the stakeholders, we will take the final call in this regard,” he added.
However, the officials were concerned about the risk factors in the sports. “We are ready to abide by the rules and regulations that ensure the safety of the gliders and others,” Narendra Raman of Xtacee Paragliding Club in Bengaluru, who accompanied the officials, said.
Yelagiri is the best site for the sports in South India. The bottom landing field, elevation and weather condition prevailing here is suitable for the sports, he said.
“It will boost the economy of the hills and surrounding areas. It will create a sustainable livelihood once the locals trained in tandem paragliding,” he said and pointed out the economic growth of Bir Billing in Himachal Pradesh. It also gave employment to hundreds of youths in Sikkim as the government there trained the unemployed youth into tandem pilots.
Tourist Information Officer G Sudhakar said that a total of 55 gliders, including gliders from Australia, Germany, Switzerland and France, registered with YASA before flying in 2009 and 2010. “Apart from this, over 100 gliders flew during the festival in 2009 and 2010. We followed safety rules to ensure their safety and allowed only well-trained gliders to fly,” he said.
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Yelagiri Hills, located 90 kms from Vellore, is suitable for paragliding for five to six months in a year– from January to mid-April / September and October.
It suitable for the aero sports as the elevation, bottom landing field and weather is conducive to the sports. The wind blow 20 km per hour is suitable for paragliding.
Take off-sites – Ramakrishna Mutt, Rayaneri and Hanuman take off-sites.
Over 80 gliders participated in 2010 paragliding fest. Yelagiri paragliding record set by two - Vijay Soni and Dileep Kotecha from Pune set a record by flying for 100 kms (out and return).
55 gliders from India and abroad registered with YASA. /eom/shan/
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