Shimla: The diverse landscape of Himachal has everything to enthrall and attract a pool of tourists. The mighty mountain peaks, deep ravines, abundance of greenery, its rich flora and fauna, the hazy woodlands, golden valleys, the voluble waterfalls, icy rivers, pristine glaciers, enchanting lakes, etc. are the treasures which Himachal have in abundance and can boast off.
For this very reason, the State topped the Country in promotion of tourism as the Best Mountain, Best Adventure destination and was preferred as best for its scenic roads in India Today’s Award Ceremony held at Delhi recently.
The Chief Minister’s Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s first Budget unraveled and rolled out adequate funds to boost the tourism infrastructure of the state.
Besides ample scope of adventure tourism, the stress is also on promoting religious, rural, health, Eco categories of tourism in the state. The Chief Minister has reiterated his resolve to promote Kangra as a ‘Tourism Capital of the State’ besides, setting up rope ways which besides an added tourist attraction will help to connect places and transport goods and passengers to remote places which will be also an alternative mode of transportation in a big way. The State Government has succeeded in getting the nod of the Centre for construction of the proposed rope way for Bijli Mahadev in Kullu district.
The work on the rope way will start within three months which will prove a game changer in tourism promotion in the region. This Bijli Mahadev Ropeway is also targeted to be completed by 2023-24.
In order to shorten the travel time for the high end tourists, it has been decided to open heliports in all districts nearer to the district headquarters. All the Deputy Commissioners have been asked to identify land on priority for paving the way to implement this flagship scheme regarding construction of heliports in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
This will not only give wings to tourism promotion in the State, but will also help in several other emerging situations. It will help in airlifting the patients in case of medical emergency. In addition to this, these heliports could be used as evacuation points during any natural calamity and provide relief at the time of distress.
Apart from promoting water sports in the reservoirs of the state, the government mulls to provide basic facilities to adventure enthusiasts as well. State government also plans setting up a ‘Tent City’ at the base camp of Dhauladhar ranges. Adequate land and road connectivity will be assured for the ‘Tent City’ project, which will have more than 200 encampments equipped with all amenities. Promotion of trekking and hiking is also a priority concern of the government.
Known as Dev Bhoomi, the temples of Himachal Pradesh witness major footfall of the tourists and devotees from far and wide. In order to facilitate such devotees, the Government has decided to ‘e-connect’ all such temples of the State. Once this facility gets operational, people will be able to make online bookings for Havan, Bhandara, Jagrata in all these temples and Shaktipeeths.
To begin with, the State Government has directed the officers to start this facility from Mata Chintpurni temple in Una district. The work on this pilot project has started and the software is also being developed. Once this project is successful in this temple, the same will be replicated in other big and famous temples of the State as well.
