Provision of Rs.100 crore made for religious circuit: Himachal CM

Dharamshala, December 12, 2019: Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said that the government is committed to develop tourism in the state. He said that the government has prepared a new tourism policy so that maximum number of tourists should visit the state. The youth of the state should be self-employed and employed through tourism. The government is going to work under this policy. He admitted that the level at which work should have been done to promote tourism destination has not been done yet. The previous government made a tourism policy, but neither was there a vision and nor the policy, as such no work could be taken up in this direction in the state. Chief Minister said this in response to the discussion on the resolution brought under the tourism policy by Narendra Bragta on the fourth day of the winter session in Dharamshala on Thursday. The Chief Minister said that his government started working on it only after coming in to power and for the first time under the ‘naee manzil naaee rahen’ scheme, a budget of Rs 50 crore was made for development of tourism in 2018 and said that in 19-20 too the same amount of money will be provided. He said that developing new destination with old destination is the priority of the state government, he added that there is a plan to develop tourism in the state under the project of the Asian Development Bank in the coming time. Apart from this, the government has not made any destination at its own level including provision for Chancel Valley, Beed Building and other areas. The Chief Minister said that a budget of 15 crore crore for Bir Billing and Janjhali and six crore for water sports and other facilities in Pong Dam and 3.72 crore has been kept for Larji Dam, similarly 100 crore for the Religious circuit and 87 crore for Swadesh Darshan has been kept. A DPR of Rs. 45 crore has been sent to centre for the development purpose of the Mata Chintpurni temple and other facilities there. In order to promote tourism in the state, the number of rooms has been increased from 3 to 4 under the Home Stay Scheme, so that more tourist reach the villages and youth there get employment at home. 19 members of the ruling and opposition participated in this discussion. During the discussion, the members of the ruling party appreciated the efforts of the government and brought the government's attention to the possibility of tourism and development in their respective areas, while the members of the opposition Emphasized to improve this policy of the government, two newly joined MLAs from dharamshala and Pachad also participated in this discussion. After discussion, Narendra Bhragta withdrawn the pledge only after being satisfied with the reply of the Chief Minister.