Early Times Report
Udahmpur, Sept 11: Hills of Pingla Mata in Udhampur district today witnessed successful paragliding trials.
The paragliding trials were organised by Tawi Adventures, a registered Adventure Tour Operator (ATO) with Directorate of tourism Jammu. Mr Arshdeep Singh, a qualified pilot, undertook the trial.
The proposal was moved for undertaking Paragliding Trials from two locations in Udhampur district, viz., Pingla Mata hill and Ladha, which was acknowledged by Deputy Commissioner Udhampur and he assured all possible support for safe and successful conduct of these trials.
The team could not conduct the trials at Ladha Dhar on Thursday due to unfavourable weather conditions and clearance issue of the landing area.
The following morning, on Friday, the attempt was made from hills of Pingla Mata shrine near Manwal, which was successful.
The winds were perfect, coming in from the desired direction. Go-ahead from the team leader, and the glider was up in the air. The flight, which lasted for seven minutes and two seconds, touched down in the foothills of Pingla Mata. The site as per the experts has tremendous potential for offering thrilling and exciting paragliding flights to the adventure seekers.
While the trial was conducted from a much lower point on the mountain, the actual operations would see the tourists leap off the mountain from the ridge line, but below the tree top level. Tawi Adventures shall now submit a report to the district administration in Udhampur with their road map for future course of action.
Karnail Singh, Sarpanch Chiani, and Balwant Raj, Sarpanch Thalora, were also present at the site.
They expected District Administration and Tourism Department to start paragliding activities at the earliest and also undertake tourism asset building, such as road connectivity, view points, waiting shed, parking, equipment store, etc.
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