Actor Sumeet Raghavan has called out tourists for littering in Himachal Pradesh after finding garbage scattered along the trail leading to the popular Tattapani hot springs. During his visit, Raghavan and a few others collected some of the waste they found on the way and showed it in a video shared on Instagram. Raghavan said he was visiting Tattapani with a group associated with the Indus Paragliding School. The group included people from different professions, including Raghavan, who introduced himself as an actor, and Dushyant, an architect. As they made their way towards the hot springs, the group began collecting the garbage lying along the route. In the video, Raghavan showed the bag they had filled with the waste and pointed out that there was still much more litter scattered around them.“Hello guys, we have come to Himachal Pradesh to see Tata Pani Hot Springs. We are associated with a school called Indus Paragliding School. There are people from different professions here. I am an actor. Here is Dushyant. He is an architect. And many more people are coming from behind,” Raghavan said in the video. He then showed the garbage the group had picked up. “Now our bag is full, but there is so much garbage here,” he said.
“It is such a beautiful place”
Raghavan described the sight as shameful and questioned why visitors leave waste behind in a place known for its natural surroundings. “It is a very shameful thing that we are destroying such a good place. And I think this is the fault in the DNA of us Indians,” he said. He also appealed to the Himachal Pradesh government to take stronger action against littering. “I would request the Himachal government to take some tough steps,” Raghavan said. He then turned the camera towards the surroundings and added, “It is such a beautiful place. And look what we have done, what filth we have created.”The video showed the garbage collected by Raghavan and the others during their walk. Raghavan also shared a short caption with the video, writing, “We indians are a disgrace. Thank you”. He tagged the official Himachal Tourism and Himachal Police Instagram accounts in the post.
What social media users said
The video prompted reactions from viewers, with several users discussing both littering by tourists and the role of citizens in keeping public places clean. One user wrote, “One of the most stunning countries, destroyed by ‘chalta hai’ mentality.” Another user pointed out that the presence of dustbins does not necessarily stop people from throwing waste on the ground. “The saddest part is they infact do have dustbins at regular intervals on each hiking trail I went on. But people still litter,” the user wrote. Another commenter questioned whether the problem should be placed only on the government, arguing that citizens also have a responsibility to follow rules. “Easy to blame the government, but we citizens aren’t exactly innocent either. Same Indians become NRI and suddenly follow every rule because fines exist here (witness from my own experience),” the user wrote.
