Azad sets agenda for promotion of eco-tourism in J

Srinagar, Aug 1 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir government is exploring the possibility of introducing air taxi service for promotion of eco- tourism in the state.

The government will also encourage local people to develop guest house facilities from the existing houses on a reasonable expenditure so that tourist accommodation problem are addressed in the state.

Directing tourism and forest departments to jointly plan and implement projects for promotion of eco-tourism in the State, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said air taxi service from Katra to Bhadarwah would be explored to attract Vaishnodevi shrine pilgrims.

He asked senior officers of the two departments to constitute a committee for appraisal and implementation of tourism development projects where forest land was involved.

The Chief Minister passed this instruction during a meeting to review work on the projects taken up by Bhadarwah Development Authority here today.

He said helicopter service between Katra and Bhadarwah would be explored for promotion of tourism in the area.

He emphasised the need to prioritise schemes for timely completion in order to raise infrastructure in the newly created development authorities in the three regions of the state.

He said a joint meeting of all the 22 development authorities would be convened soon to decide on parameters for development projects to be uniformally implemented.

About the development of Jai, a breathtakingly beautiful place, the Chief Minister said that it was becoming increasingly a popular tourist destination and received 1.5 lakh internal tourists a year.

He said recently 250 students of a private school of Srinagar had camped at Jai for several days. Another batch of 800 students from the school would arrive there next year.

He asked the tourism authorities to encourage local people develop guest house facilities from the existing houses on a reasonable expenditure so that tourist accommodation problem was addressed. The government, he said, could provide incentives for redoing private houses.

He said a committee would be constituted to examine suitability of the houses to be redone as tourist accommodation.

Mr Azad asked for exploring public-private partnership for developing infrastructure at Seoj Dhar where huts and camping sites could be set up.

He said there was tremendous scope for diverting Vaishnodevi Shrine pilgrims to Bhadarwah valley for which adequate infrastructure would have to be put in place.

The Chief Minister showed interest in the project for heritage tourism at Bhadarwah under which the famous Bhadarwah Fort would be beautified.

The jail set up in the fort in 1920 would now be shifted to develop the monument as a heritage site.

The Chief Executive Officer, BDA said that projects worth Rs 18.12 crores had been forwarded to the central government for funding. These include construction of Park Resort at Khellani, Amusement Park at Chabra, Tourist Complex and Interpretation Centre and Kursari Hill Resort.

UNI