By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 19 Jun: A panel discussion on Tourism and Industrial development was held during the Amar Ujala Uttarakhand Samvad at a local hotel here today. The panel consisted of Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, CEO & Executive Director of Britannia India Rajneet Singh Kohli and Managing Director of InterContinental Hotel Group Sudeep Jain. The session was moderated by veteran journalist Sanjay Abhigyan.
Maharaj and others responded to the questions raised by Sanjay Abhigyan. In response to a question, Maharaj conceded that carrying capacity of the towns and tourist sites should be considered for sustainable tourism. He said that the government is considering conducting studies on carrying capacity of the cities and tourism sites as well as regulating the tourism activities and pilgrimages. He added that there is a need to develop new tourism sites and places in order to decongest the already existing popular destination. He said that the government is developing many tourism circuits with this idea in mind. Circuits of temples devoted to different deities are also being developed. There is a plan to link Kedarnath by air with 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva. He also claimed that an international airport is under consideration in Haridwar since the Jolly Grant Airport of Dehradun has limited scope of expansion as it is surrounded by forests and the hills. Even then, more than 28 flights were operating from Jolly Grant Airport per day.
Maharaj said that many places important from tourism point of view were not considered safe in the past, but now the perception towards them has changed. He said that following 2013 Kedarnath tragedy, the message that spread around the world that Rishikesh had drowned, Kedarnath had drowned, but after Modi visited Kedarnath and even stayed overnight there to meditate in a cave there, the perception changed to positive. Now the number of devotees coming to Uttarakhand has increased. Now they are getting facilities. Satpal Maharaj said that at present more than five thousand home stays have been built in the state.
Hotelier Sudeep Jain while agreeing that infrastructure growth has picked up pace in Uttarakhand and that the tourism was growing at 7 percent per annum in the state, he said that infrastructure could not keep pace with the growth in the tourism sector. He added that despite the hospitality industry growing, there is still paucity of skilled staff for the industry. He conceded that the hotel management students were not skilled adequately and needed to be trained further. To this, Maharaj responded that he has gone to many countries and often found chefs from Uttarakhand working in international destinations.
Rajneet Singh Kohi said that he has positive outlook about the industrial growth and development in Uttarakhand and said that his wife is from Dehradun and despite being one of the largest producers of biscuits and rusks, he still buys cookies from Sunrise and Ellora bakers in Dehradun. He added that Dehradun is the bakery city of India. When asked why he did not consider setting up of second unit in Uttarakhand, he said that the unit established in Udham Singh Nagar district is being upgraded and is the fourth largest of the company in terms of production which contributes to exporting the products to over 80 countries. He added that Britannia takes lead in recycling the plastic and reusing the plastic due to its commitment to environment.
Dehradun, 19 Jun: A panel discussion on Tourism and Industrial development was held during the Amar Ujala Uttarakhand Samvad at a local hotel here today. The panel consisted of Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, CEO & Executive Director of Britannia India Rajneet Singh Kohli and Managing Director of InterContinental Hotel Group Sudeep Jain. The session was moderated by veteran journalist Sanjay Abhigyan.
Maharaj and others responded to the questions raised by Sanjay Abhigyan. In response to a question, Maharaj conceded that carrying capacity of the towns and tourist sites should be considered for sustainable tourism. He said that the government is considering conducting studies on carrying capacity of the cities and tourism sites as well as regulating the tourism activities and pilgrimages. He added that there is a need to develop new tourism sites and places in order to decongest the already existing popular destination. He said that the government is developing many tourism circuits with this idea in mind. Circuits of temples devoted to different deities are also being developed. There is a plan to link Kedarnath by air with 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva. He also claimed that an international airport is under consideration in Haridwar since the Jolly Grant Airport of Dehradun has limited scope of expansion as it is surrounded by forests and the hills. Even then, more than 28 flights were operating from Jolly Grant Airport per day.
Maharaj said that many places important from tourism point of view were not considered safe in the past, but now the perception towards them has changed. He said that following 2013 Kedarnath tragedy, the message that spread around the world that Rishikesh had drowned, Kedarnath had drowned, but after Modi visited Kedarnath and even stayed overnight there to meditate in a cave there, the perception changed to positive. Now the number of devotees coming to Uttarakhand has increased. Now they are getting facilities. Satpal Maharaj said that at present more than five thousand home stays have been built in the state.
Hotelier Sudeep Jain while agreeing that infrastructure growth has picked up pace in Uttarakhand and that the tourism was growing at 7 percent per annum in the state, he said that infrastructure could not keep pace with the growth in the tourism sector. He added that despite the hospitality industry growing, there is still paucity of skilled staff for the industry. He conceded that the hotel management students were not skilled adequately and needed to be trained further. To this, Maharaj responded that he has gone to many countries and often found chefs from Uttarakhand working in international destinations.
Rajneet Singh Kohi said that he has positive outlook about the industrial growth and development in Uttarakhand and said that his wife is from Dehradun and despite being one of the largest producers of biscuits and rusks, he still buys cookies from Sunrise and Ellora bakers in Dehradun. He added that Dehradun is the bakery city of India. When asked why he did not consider setting up of second unit in Uttarakhand, he said that the unit established in Udham Singh Nagar district is being upgraded and is the fourth largest of the company in terms of production which contributes to exporting the products to over 80 countries. He added that Britannia takes lead in recycling the plastic and reusing the plastic due to its commitment to environment.
