{"id":243025,"date":"2025-02-20T12:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/20\/himachal-locals-protest-plan-to-divert-sacred-manikaran-hot-springs-water-to-kasol-for-jacuzzi-hot-baths\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T12:43:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:43:04","slug":"himachal-locals-protest-plan-to-divert-sacred-manikaran-hot-springs-water-to-kasol-for-jacuzzi-hot-baths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/20\/himachal-locals-protest-plan-to-divert-sacred-manikaran-hot-springs-water-to-kasol-for-jacuzzi-hot-baths\/","title":{"rendered":"Himachal locals protest plan to divert sacred Manikaran hot springs water to Kasol for ‘jacuzzi hot baths’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Himachal<\/div>\n
A proposal to transfer hot spring water from Manikaran<\/a> to Kasol<\/a> for a nature park project has sparked strong opposition from locals, who have warned of mass protests if the plan is not withdrawn. Residents argue that using the sacred water for commercial purposes is unacceptable, a TOI report stated.The Special Area Development Authority (SADA) recently proposed building a nature park in Kasol, 4 km from Manikaran, with jacuzzi hot baths. The plan involves transporting hot spring water from Manikaran through a network of pipes.<\/p>\n

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Residents demand withdrawal of proposal<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>Opposing the project, Manikaran residents met Kullu deputy commissioner Torul S Ravish and submitted a memorandum to the chief minister, calling for the proposal to be scrapped. “Manikaran is a site of pilgrimage, and no one should be allowed to misuse the water. If the government wants to build hot baths, then they should do it in Manikaran itself,” said local resident Narender Kumar. He added that even the deities were against transferring the water to Kasol.<\/p>\n

Another local resident, Shailender Sharma, criticized the authorities, stating, “Imposition of SADA in Manikaran<\/a> has led to zero development, and now they want to take away our water… we would not let them do so.”<\/p>\n

Political divide over the project<\/h2>\n

The proposal has led to political disputes among local leaders. BJP\u2019s Narotam Thakur accused Kullu\u2019s Congress MLA Sundar Singh Thakur of having “vested interest” in the project. “It\u2019s a bad idea to transfer the holy water of Manikaran, which is a globally famous religious site. Neither the people of Manikaran want the water to be diverted nor the people of Kasol. It\u2019s just the local MLA…,” he said.

Former MP Maheshwar Singh also opposed the project, emphasizing that Manikaran\u2019s holy water should not be used for commercial purposes. “The holy water of Manikaran is used even by the local deities,” he stated last week.<\/p>\n

MLA defends development plans<\/h2>\n

In response to the criticism, Kullu MLA Sundar Singh Thakur defended the project, stating, “Whenever we have talked about development, some people in Kullu have opposed it, making religion an excuse. They opposed projects from the ski village to even paragliding in Dhalpur, Kullu. But no one will be allowed to thwart the development process on the pretext of religion.”With tensions rising, the fate of the proposal remains uncertain as residents continue their opposition and political debate over the project intensifies.
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proposal to transfer hot spring water from Manikaran to Kasol for a nature park project has sparked strong opposition from locals, who have warned of mass protests if the plan is not withdrawn. Residents argue that using the sacred water for commercial purposes is unacceptable, a TOI report stated.The Special Area Development Authority (SADA) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-118416176,imgsize-3761137.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[188954,77354,5688,5632,188953,108145,188949,188951,188948,8382,188952,188947,736,9724,7072,188950,164136,556],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243027,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243025\/revisions\/243027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}