Bir-Billing’s paragliding school is unable to gain traction

The HP State Tourism Department spent Rs 8 crore building a paragliding school, which is now awaiting opening.

The department has not yet established regulations to govern paragliding schools, therefore the facility could not be placed into operation.

Hundreds of national and international paragliding enthusiasts who visit Bir-Billing each year are inconvenienced by the lack of a functioning training school in the region.

Seven years ago, the paragliding school’s foundation stone was set by former chief minister Virbadhra Singh. It was expected to be operational in two years. During a visit to Bir-Billing in 2021, Jai Ram Thakur, Virbhadra’s successor, declared an early commencement of studies at the paragliding school, but to no effect. According to information acquired by The Tribune, the state does not currently have any regulations governing paragliding schools. The Tourism Department has said on many times that regulations for private paragliding schools would be developed; however, as of yet, no action has been made in this regard.

In Bir-Billing, a number of private schools have opened in response to the growing number of people interested in studying paragliding. Paragliding enthusiasts are being trained by several local pilots.

Famous pilot Gurpreet Singh Dhindsa, a Punjabi native who had operated a private school in Bir for the previous 20 years, acknowledged that his institution was not officially recognized by Himachal Pradesh as no legislation had been passed to authorize the registration of such institutions. He said that the Tourism Department would always close private schools once an incident occurred, giving no explanation or investigating the problems the schools were facing.