Paragliding paradise turns into safe haven for revellers
With its sprawling meadows, dense forests and snowcapped mighty Dhauladhar mountain range in the backdrop, Bir-Billing valley is no more only a paragliding paradise.
With its sprawling meadows, dense forests and snowcapped mighty Dhauladhar mountain range in the backdrop, Bir-Billing valley is no more only a paragliding paradise.
The picturesque valley, dotted with fresh water rivulets, is fast emerging a favorite destination among revellers and eventually turning out to be a safe haven for rave and full moon parties, offering a cocktail of banned drugs, liquor, dance and sex.
After frequent police crackdowns in Dharamsala and adjoining areas, revellers mostly foreigners, smugglers and locals have join hands to throw night-long spectacles of hedonism in impassable forests of Billing and adjacent Barot valley of Mandi district. One such party was organised on last week at 360 camp - an isolated area covered with forests on Kangra-Mandi border - about which the police had no information, while a rave party being organised in a hotel in Billing area on November 15 was busted by cops but nobody was arrested.
However, the revellers had already scattered before the police reached the second venue. Full moon parties are usually held on or one day before or after full moon nights. Sources said that full moon and rave parties have become a regular affair in the Billing valley.
“The drugs worth lakhs of rupees are said to be traded in the area,” said sources.
“The police have almost negligible presence. Though, the common mode of passing information is through SMS and e- mails sometimes, posters carrying information about such parties are commonly seen at dhabas and shops situated at Bir village,” sources added.
The police officials here too admit that rave and full moon parties are being organised in the Billing valley where men and women flout every rule by openly doing drugs.
“We have started a campaign against such parties and were able to bust one such party last month in Bhagusnag near Dharamsala. On November 15 our team had almost busted a party in Billing area but the 'revellers' dispersed before we could reach the spot,” said Mohit Chawla, additional superintendent of police (ASP), Kangra.
“Earlier, Dharamsala and adjoining areas were venues for such parties. Now, they have shifted their base to Billing area,” said Chawla, adding that the police have been keeping a vigil in the area so that such practices could be stopped.
Meanwhile, sources said that revellers have also devised new means to organise such parties and most common is to hold party in the area which falls on the boundry of two districts.
“This creates confusion over jurisdiction and police wait their counterparts from the other side to act,” said a source, adding that organisers also use code language to pass information about time and venue and what is interpreted from posters and SMSs usually turn out to be wrong. “This is a strong network of drug peddlers, foreign mafia and locals. Even the involvement of police could not be ruled out,” said sources.
Revellers flee from the venue with all the drugs, liquor in case the police raid the spot, which show how organised they are and even involvement of police in this network could not be ruled out,” they added.