By Our Staff Reporter
Nainital, 2 Jun: Governor Lt General Gurmit Singh (Retd) was on a visit to Bhimtal on Friday. He visited Rock Hill Inn and Mahajan Home Stay there. He obtained information from the home stay operators about tourism activities.
The Governor said that tourism is the basis of economic activities in Uttarakhand. The home stay scheme can play an important role in preventing migration. He instructed the officers to motivate ever more people to register for home stays.
CDO Dr Sandeep Tiwari told him that, this year, more than 900 home stays have been registered, which number was 200 last year. On this, the Governor praised the CDO and said that it should be increased continuously.
Lt General Singh asked the MD, Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, Dr Sandeep Tiwari to prepare a concrete action plan to increase the infrastructure facilities of KMVN in the places covered under Manaskhand Mandir Mala Mission. He asked that more people be motivated for setting up home stays in Manaskhand areas. Efforts should be made to keep the tourists coming to Uttarakhand busy in maximum activities here. Efforts to increase the infrastructure facilities to attract tourists from the country and abroad needed to be made.
The Governor also held a meeting with the SDM, Tehsildar and police officers and discussed the challenges and problems of Bhimtal area. The Governor said efforts to provide basic facilities at the village level were necessary so that every person could benefit. He said that the cooperation of private stakeholders would increase more tourism activities and they should be provided all possible help for their business. He also obtained information about the law and order situation in the area from the officials.
During the visit to Bhimtal, women of self-help groups met the Governor at TRH Bhimtal. He inquired about the problems, challenges and products being made by the women in their businesses. The Governor said that self-help groups would bring economic progress in Uttarakhand. They should pay special attention to packaging of their products as well as value addition to their products.
He said the products of Uttarakhand are undoubtedly world class, they only need branding. He asked the women to do online marketing of their products so that they would also get good value.
The Governor also had a meeting with the office bearers of Bhimtal and Bhawali Hotel Associations. In a meeting at TRH Bhimtal, the Governor discussed the problems being faced in the operation of the hotels and took their suggestions.
He said that people from all over the world come to Uttarakhand for spiritual tourism, adventure tourism and to enjoy its natural beauty. They needed to be kept engaged in various activities.
The office bearers apprised the Governor about their problems. They highlighted the problem of traffic jams, parking of vehicles, road connectivity, etc., in Bhimtal and Bhawali. They said that the lake in Bhimtal is the centre of attraction there. A concrete plan needs to be made for the beautification of the lake. They suggested cleaning up of the lake, beautification and arrangement of footpath on its banks and arrangement of lighting around it. These could be done through the Lake Development Authority. The Governor promised to address all these problems.
