Uttarakhand invests in undoing damage
After the June 2013 disaster, Uttarakhand is going all out to promote itself as a safe destination, specially for pilgrims and adventure travellers. Harish Rawat, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand speaks about the investment trajectory.
QWhat
is the agenda of your visit?
I am visiting Mumbai to interact with the travel trade here to share my vision for Uttarakhand, specially tourism. After the June 2013 disaster, we learnt a few lessons and carried on with determination, new investments and new plans. We have now opened new opportunities for tourism and we want to share this with the trade.
QWhat
investments has the state made since 2013?
We have invested in new hotels and resorts, upgrading existing guest houses, developing trekking trails and ecotourism projects across the state. We are also developing ropeway projects under the PPP model. More importantly, we have upgraded the infrastructure for Hemkund Sahib Yatra and the Char Dham Yatra, which will start from April 26, 2015. We expect the number of visitors for Char Dham yatra to reach 40 lakh this year.
QWhat
kind of upgrades will the pilgrims experience?
We have taken various measures to ensure a safe journey for all pilgrims coming to our state. The state government had even issued a few directives making departments responsible for the safety of visitors. Biometric registration counters are already in place at entry points of state and also in yatra routes. The state government has also set up 60 helipads across the state of which four helipads are at pilgrim sites. They have also set up 4,000 shelters with all facilities along the routes for visitors. We have also set up a special control room at the Uttarakhand Tourism headquarters in Dehradun that will be managed by a Nodal Officer.
QWhat
is the kind of investment you have made for this?
We have earmarked `
5,000 crore to be spent over five years. Till date, we have
` already spent 700-800 crores.
` We will double this to 1,600 crore in the financial year 2015-16. We have also improved air connectivity with three new air strips that are ready to use plus 50 helipads that will be ready soon. We will be offering a subsidy of 25 per cent for senior citizen pilgrims for helicopters to Kedarnath. The state government is also giving tax holiday for one year to hoteliers on the route of Char Dham.
QHow
is the state planning to promote Tehri Dam for tourism?
We want to develop Tehri Dam as a tourist spot on the lines of Lake Como in Italy with boat rides, restaurants and shopping around Tehri lake. For this, we have
` allocated 100 crore.
Q
What about leisure and adventure tourism?
We now have a tourism policy in place for this. For adventure tourism, we are drafting a special policy which is under process. We also have a film tourism policy which is under Cabinet discussion.