Cancel inclusion of village in SADA or we’ll disrupt paragliding cup: Gunehar residents

Kullu: The agitated residents of Gunehar village near Bir-Billing in Kangra district on Tuesday threatened to disrupt the forthcoming paragliding world cup if their demand for cancelling the inclusion of their village in the Special Area Development Authority (SADA) was not accepted.The residents of Gunehar, which is also a panchayat with world famous paragliding take off site Billing, have been holding protests against the state govt for two months now.“We have been protesting against the inclusion of our village in SADA for almost two months now. But instead of giving an ear to our demand and the problems the poor villagers are facing, the local administration has been threatening us with punishment if we dare to hold protests,” said Santosh Kumar, a Gunehar resident and member of the Gunehar Sangharsh Samiti.“If the administration doesn’t call the villagers for a meeting to discuss our demand and cancels the SADA rule, we will not let the state govt hold the paragliding world cup in Billing, which falls under our panchayat,” Kumar added.The paragliding world cup is scheduled to be held in Bir Billing from Nov 2 to 9.According to Gunehar villagers, who also held a protest on Oct 25, SADA was imposed on their village without taking them into confidence. “The state govt and the local administration kept us in complete darkness before and after including Gunehar in SADA. The govt did not even bother to inform the residents, who will be impacted the most by this move. SADA will ruin the villagers of Gunehar,” said Surender Kapoor, a village resident. Spread over an area of 295 hectares, Gunehar village has a population of around 1,900 people with majority of them small-time farmers. Gunehar along with four other villages of the area was included in SADA in August, sparking off a wave of protests. Two villages of Gunehar panchayat – Kotli and Billing – are already part of SADA.With the inclusion of Gunehar, a total 12 villages of the area including Bir village now fall under the Bir Billing Special Area. Villagers said that SADA rules would destroy the villagers.“We are a village of marginal farmers. The land holdings are so small that villagers are forced to do manual labour to make their ends meet. And now, under the SADA rule, if a villager has to construct a single room, he will have to hire an architect and run around the SADA offices to clear the maps. We will need to take SADA permission even for installing a tap. We just don’t want the draconian SADA in our village,” said Manoj Thakur, a Gunehar resident and member of the Gunehar Sangharsh Samiti.“There is no benefit for us but only problems. Kotli and Billing have already been under SADA and no development took place there. Moreover, the govt has even failed to develop this area as a tourism destination despite such a huge potential,” added Thakur.
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