By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 27 Jun: At the 22nd board meeting of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, many important decisions were taken to promote tourism and cultural activities in the state. It was chaired by Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj. Instructions were given to the officials to promote tourism and bring Uttarakhand on the tourism map at the international level. Along with this, it was decided to send a proposal to the government for the creation of a total of 94 additional posts in the framework of the Tourism Development Board.
After the meeting, Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj disclose that a total budget provision of Rs 55 crore has been made to conduct the activities of Tourism Development Board for the financial year 2022-23.
Maharaj said that a proposal to organise Paragliding, Mountain Terrain Biking, Adventure Summit, Skiing Championship, Tehri Lake Festival, Yoga Festival, etc., was placed before the board. Apart from this, a provision of Rs 30 crore has been made for the promotion of tourism of the state through print media, electronic media, social media, PR agency, travel mart, road-show, etc.
The Tourism Minister said that, under the ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Yojana’, the target has been set to train 200 persons in cooking, service, housekeeping, etc. Along with this, it was decided to provide training in Caravan Tourism, Tea Garden Tourism, Home Stay Tourism, Nature Guide, etc. The meeting included the Ganga Kayaking Festival at Rishikesh, Canoeing Festival at Tehri, Kayaking Championship at Baur Reservoir, Yoga Mahotsav, Chhota Kailash Mountaineering Expedition, Trek of the Year at Pindari, as well as high & low altitude trekking training. A master plan of Rs 1.50 crore was proposed for conducting tourism activities in Auli.
In view of the lockdown during Covid-19, the proposal for waiver of rent for units operating in PPP mode was approved. Decisions were taken on double-laning of the George Everest Road in Mussoorie, construction of Satpuli car parking, reconstruction of Kanvashram, construction of Kedarnath Dham Yatri Shelter, purchase of electric vehicles for the department, tendering for security of the premises of tourism headquarters, etc.
The projects that have been started were also discussed at the meeting. It was disclosed the meeting that a survey has been started for the ropeway between Panch Koti to Bauri, Balati Band to Khalia Top, Rishikesh to Neelkanth, Auli to Gausaun and Ranibagh to Hanuman Garh Mandir under the agreement signed with the National Highway Logistics Management Limited. Apart from this, work has started on the ropeway for Kedarnath and Hemkund.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Tourism Dilip Jawalkar, Additional Chief Executive Officer, Tourism, Pooja Garbyal, Additional Chief Executive Officer (Adventure Wing) Col Ashwini Pundir, Additional Chief Executive Officer (Infra) PK Patro, KMVN Managing Director Atar Singh, Additional Secretary, Public Works Department, Vineet Tomar, Energy Department Deputy Secretary Prakash Chandra Joshi, Board members Jagdish Chandra, Basant Singh Bisht, Kishore Kumar Yadav, Uttara Bisht, Meera Raturi, Directors of UTDB. Commander Deepak Khanduri, Additional Director Vivek Singh Chauhan, Additional Director and Working President Poonam Chand, Deputy Director Yogendra Kumar Gangwar and officials of tourism and other departments were present.
After the meeting, Minister Satpal Maharaj also inspected the convention centre being built at Garhi Cantt. He directed the officials of the Culture Department to expedite the work. Secretary, Culture, Harish Chandra Semwal, Director Bina Bhatt and other departmental officers were also present.
