Operation of Paragliding Activities

What is the Operation of Paragliding Activities scheme?

Operation of Paragliding Activities is a licensing and regulation scheme run by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) under the Department of Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand. Under the scheme, the state permits certified paragliding companies to operate commercially and issues tandem pilot licences to qualified individuals, so that joy-ride paragliding in Uttarakhand is carried out by trained, insured and medically fit operators.

According to the Uttarakhand government's departmental guidelines document, the aim is to promote safe, regulated and professional paragliding in the state. Uttarakhand's Himalayan and mid-hill terrain, sites in and around districts such as Tehri, Nainital, Pauri and Chamoli, attracts a large flow of adventure tourists, and paragliding is one of the most visible aero-sport activities on offer. Regulating who is allowed to fly a paying passenger is the state's answer to the safety risk that unregulated tandem flying creates.

The scheme is unusual among state schemes because the benefit is not a cash transfer. It is an in-kind benefit: the permission itself. Once a firm is permitted and a pilot licensed, the licence holder earns a livelihood from paragliding operations at the tariff filed with the department.

Key features

• Administered by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Department of Tourism.
• Covers two distinct applications: operating a paragliding firm, and obtaining a tandem pilot licence.
• Applications open in a fixed annual window, 16 July to 30 August.
• Decisions are taken by a Technical Committee, with permission issued by the Chief Executive Officer, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Council.
• The regime is safety-led: flying hours, SIV training, medical fitness, First Aid and CPR, and insurance are all compulsory.

Who is eligible for a paragliding permission in Uttarakhand?

Who can be considered:

• An applicant who is a native of Uttarakhand, or who has been a resident of the state for at least ten years.
• An applicant with advanced practical and technical knowledge of aero sports, which is tested rather than assumed.
• A firm holding valid registration under the Firms and Societies Act and an Uttarakhand Travel Business Registration Certificate.
• A tandem pilot who meets the full flying, safety and medical bar set out below.

Who cannot apply / is not eligible:

• A person who is neither a native of Uttarakhand nor a ten-year resident of the state cannot apply under this scheme.
• A pilot who has not logged 100 hours of flying time in the digital flight log in their own name is not eligible for a tandem pilot licence.
• A pilot who has not completed the SIV (Simulation in Flight) Tandem Paragliding Safety Course is not eligible.
• An applicant without valid First Aid and CPR certification, or who cannot produce a current medical fitness certificate, is not eligible.
• An operator without valid party insurance covering paragliding cannot be permitted to fly paying passengers.
• An unregistered firm, one lacking Firms and Societies Act registration or the Uttarakhand Travel Business Registration Certificate; cannot be permitted.

There is no personal cash entitlement here. A member of the public who simply wants to go paragliding is not an applicant under this scheme; they are a customer of a licensed operator.

What are the flying and safety requirements for a tandem pilot?

The tandem pilot conditions published in the Uttarakhand guidelines are specific and are the heart of the scheme:

The digital flight log is central. Both the distance and the hours must appear in the log against the applicant's own name, a pilot cannot rely on hours flown by a colleague or on undocumented experience. The annual medical examination requirement means the licence is not a one-time clearance; fitness has to be re-established each year.

How to apply for paragliding permission in Uttarakhand

The route is offline and runs through the Tourism Department. There is no self-service online portal for this permission.

1. Wait for the annual window. Applications from those wishing to carry on paragliding activities are submitted between 16 July and 30 August every year. Prepare the file before mid-July so nothing is missing.
2. Collect the prescribed application form from the Tourism Department and decide which application you are making — for running the firm, for a tandem pilot licence, or both.
3. Assemble the firm documents: the completed form, valid registration under the Firms and Societies Act, the Uttarakhand Travel Business Registration Certificate, insurance of the firm, details of the staff working in the firm, the tandem joy rides package fare (tariff card), and a description of the paragliding equipment held.
4. Pay the application fee of Rs 1,000 as prescribed in the rules for running the firm, and attach proof of payment.
5. Assemble the tandem pilot documents: digital flight log evidence of 35 km minimum air distance and 100 hours of flying, medical fitness certificates, valid First Aid and CPR certification, the SIV Tandem Paragliding Safety Course certificate, and proof of paragliding insurance.
6. Submit the complete application to the Tourism Department within the window, and keep an acknowledged copy.
7. Attend the practical test when called. The Technical Committee assesses the applicant's advanced practical knowledge of aero sports.
8. Await the Committee's recommendation. After scrutiny by the Department, the application is placed before the Technical Committee for evaluation.
9. Receive the permission, which is issued by the Chief Executive Officer, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Council, on the Committee's recommendation.

How is the application decided?

Uttarakhand runs a three-stage decision process. First, the Department scrutinises the application for completeness, missing registrations, expired insurance and unsigned tariff cards are caught at this stage. Second, the Technical Committee evaluates the applicant, including the practical test of aero-sports knowledge for tandem pilots. Third, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Council issues the permission on the Committee's recommendation.

Because the process is committee-based and runs on an annual calendar, an applicant should not expect a same-week decision. The sensible planning assumption is that an application filed in the July–August window is decided in the season that follows.

Why paragliding applications get rejected

The published conditions point to the most common failure points:

• Filing outside the window. An application submitted after 30 August falls outside the annual cycle.
• Flight log short of the bar; fewer than 100 logged hours, or the 35 km distance not recorded against the applicant's own name.
• No SIV course certificate. The Simulation in Flight tandem safety course is compulsory, not optional.
• Lapsed First Aid or CPR certification, or a medical certificate that is not current.
• Insurance gaps; either the firm's insurance or the party insurance covering paragliding not being valid on the date of application.
• Incomplete firm papers, most often a missing Uttarakhand Travel Business Registration Certificate or Firms and Societies Act registration.
• Failing the practical test set by the Technical Committee.
• Domicile shortfall, the applicant being neither a native of Uttarakhand nor a ten-year resident.

The fix in almost every case is to close the gap and re-apply in the next annual window, since the scheme has no rolling intake.

Where to get help or raise a grievance

The Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board and the Department of Tourism are the accountable offices for this scheme, and the official state tourism portal is uttarakhandtourism.gov.in. District Tourism Development Officers are the department's field offices across Uttarakhand's 13 districts and are the usual first point of contact for adventure-tourism operators.

The scheme conditions, including the application window, the Rs 1,000 fee, the document lists and the tandem pilot standards, are published in the Government of Uttarakhand's departmental guidelines document at uk.gov.in (the paragliding entry appears at page 122). Readers should treat that document as the controlling text, because the department revises the guidelines periodically.

No official will ask an applicant for an OTP, and no agent can promise a tandem pilot licence. The only route to permission is the departmental application, scrutiny, the Technical Committee's practical evaluation, and an order from the Chief Executive Officer of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Council.