Jaipur Couple That Caused Outrage For Driving An SUV On Ladakh's Sand Dunes Fined Rs 50,000
Leh Police in Ladakh has fined Rs 50000 on a couple from Jaipur who was seen driving their SUV on the sand dunes there. The couple drove their Toyota Fortuner on the dunes in Hunder in Nubra Valley violating a ban. This is not the first time tourists from other states have been accused of reckless behavior in the ecologically sensitive area.
Tourists don't own the places that they visit for a day or two, but many behave like they do.
This includes getting drunk, misbehaving with locals and other tourists, littering, violating local customs and rules, etc.
Most of the time, tourists get away with these kinds of behavior as many locals and businessmen are willing to look the other way as they don't want to be perceived as troublemakers by those coming to enjoy the beauty of their area.
This has however only emboldened such people.
Couple caught for driving SUV on sand dunes
But a couple from Jaipur learned it the hard way, that their reckless actions can have consequences.
Leh Police
The Leh Police in Ladakh has fined Rs 50,000 on a couple from Jaipur who was seen driving their SUV on the sand dunes there.
The couple drove their Toyota Fortuner on sand dunes in Hunder in Nubra Valley, a popular destination for tourists in Ladakh, violating a ban.
The car had a Delhi license plate, however, the couple was from Rajasthan.
"One tourist vehicle was found violating the SDM [sub-divisional magistrate] Nubra's direction not to drive cars over sand dunes in Hunder. The couple from Jaipur were booked as per law and a bond of ? 50,000 was taken by them," Leh Police said in the Facebook post.
"District police Leh requests tourists not to drive on sand dunes as you damage the natural landscape and violate the prohibitory orders," the police said further.
Facebook
Driving Audi on Panagon lake
This is not the first time tourists from other states have been accused of reckless behavior in the ecologically sensitive area.
In April this year, a video had caused outrage after three youths on an Audi Q3 were seen driving through the Pangong Lake.
Two of them are out from the sunroof while the driver takes the vehicle through the Pangong Tso.
I am sharing again an another shameful video . Such irresponsible tourists are killing ladakh . Do you know? Ladakh have a more than 350 birds species and lakes like pangong are the home of many bird species. Such act may have risked the habitat of many bird species. pic.twitter.com/ZuSExXovjp
¡ª Jigmat Ladakhi ?? (@nontsay) April 9, 2022
The video also showed chairs and a table with bottles of alcohol placed along the lake.
It is illegal to get the vehicles into Pangong Lake which locals regard as sacred.
International shame
Such behaviour has also brought international shame to India in the past.
In 2019, an Indian biker, Abhijit Ratan Hajare from Maharashtra was detained by the authorities in Bhutan for hurting religious sentiments.
Much outrage in Bhutan by actions of these two highly insensitive and disrespectful regional tourists standing on a sacred Buddhist Stupa.
¡ª Tenzing Lamsang (@TenzingLamsang) October 17, 2019
This is one of the many reasons why Bhutan needs to regulate mass regional tourism.
Nationality yet to be confirmed but from South Asia. pic.twitter.com/3GfaVE4CSm
This was after Abhijit was seen climbing on a Chorten, a sacred stupa in Buddhism, which symbolizes the presence of Buddha.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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