Himachal is a part of the Lower Himalayas and this part makes India the ultimate trekking destination. Other than Himachal Pradesh the Himalayan regions provide several trekking routes such as Srinagar and Pahalgam being good starting points for the Kashmir Valley and beyond the Leh being the ideal starting point in Ladakh. The hill regions of Garhwal and Kumaun provide good treks to the source of the Ganga, Joshimath and the famous Valley of Flowers in Uttar Pradesh. Sikkim is excellent for trekking with Yuksam being the base camp for more treks in the Western part of the State. In West Bengal, the main trekking routes are from Darjeeling onwards to distant places like Phalut so on and so forth. And in Himachal Pradesh several treks commences from Shimla, Dharmashala, and Dalhousie to numerous destinations.
Important Trekking Routes are:
On 22 June 1999 the state government under its notification PER (AP-C) (19)-1/1 1999 declared following areas as difficult and inaccessible. Kinnaur, and Sangrah of Sirmaur, Chotta Banghal and Bara Banghal of Kangra, Thunag, Karsog, Balichowki, Nehri, Drang and Seraj of Mandi district, Rohru, Chirgaon, Dodra Kwar and Rampur of Shimla district and Banjar, Anni and Nirmand of Kullu district were treated as inaccessible in the government record from placement and transfer point of view.
But after 7 years in 2008, the state government re-notified the inaccessible areas under its notification no. PER (AP-B) B (7) 1/2008 section 8 as tribal and inaccessible. These are – Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi, Bharmaur, Dodra Kwar, Pandra Bees pargana of Rampur, Kathwar Korga circle of kamrau tehsil of Sirmaur, Bhalag, Bgalona, Sangle Patwar circle of Renuka tehsil, Kota pab area of Shillai, Khanyag Bagra patwar circle of Karsog, Garagushani, Mathyani, Ghanyar, Thachi, Baghi, Somgarh, Khelnai Patwar circle of Balichowki sub- tehsil, Jharwar, Kutgarh, Grama, Devgarh, Trafila, Ropa, Rathag, Silah, Badawani, Hastpur, Dhamrohar and Bhatehar patwar circle of Paddar tehsil, Cheyuni, Kalipar, Mangarh, Thach Bagra, North and South Bagru of Thunag tehsil and Batwara patwar circle of Sundernagar tehsil of Mandi district included in this category.
The areas excluded were Chhota Banghal of Kangra and Chaupal and Chirgaon of Shimla because these became easily accessible with the extension of roads network and bus service.
D.P Sood Commission: On 13th June 2011, Himachal government setup D.P Sood Commission to look in to the benami land deals in the state from 2003 to March 2011. The commission was setup under the commission enquiry act 1952 sec. (3) sub. sec. (1). The one member commission looked into the violation of HP Land and Tenancy Reforms Act 1972, sec. 118. Later on the jurisdiction of Act was also extended to HP Apartment and Property Regulation Act 2005, and its clause pertaining to the violation of the legality of the essentiality certificate. The commission submitted its interim report on 28th March 2012 to the state chief secretary Ms. Rajwant Snadhu, 147 page report contained revolutionary recommendations. The final report was submitted on 29th may 2012, in which it was suggested to cancel 49 land deal and on 34 punitive action should be taken.