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The Barot Valley – A victim of the false promises and deceptive assurance given by the political leaders.

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The Barot Valley – A heaven like tourist spot cries for maintenance for over a decade

The Himachal assembly polls are nearing and 53 candidates left the battle field on the last date for withdrawing the nominations, and now we are left with 469 candidates in the arena. The list of the promises has been printed on fine quality paper and is being circulated through manifestos. One of the highlights of these manifestos is the development of the tourism industry in Himachal. However, these promises mostly remain printed on the manifesto and rarely see the real world action. Here is one example.A resident of the Joginder Nagar wrote to HW along with images and related URLs of the Chauhar Valley, better known as Barot valley – a beautiful tourist spot located in the Joginder Nagar, District Mandi of Himachal Pradesh. According to him, the Barot Valley has a great potential as a perfect destination for tourists , but the government is not paying any attention towards its maintenance and development. Interestingly, Kaul Sigh, former Congress chief who has filed nomination from the Darang constituency for the polls scheduled for next month, was approached many times with the issue of the bridge in the valley, which fell down in 1995 due to a flood. However, nothing was delivered accept assurance. The complainer further puts it in the following words:

The original Text of the complaint sent to HW:

“Well the problem is that government is not taking care of this place, which can be developed as a tourist hub Here are the photos with description.

In this image you can see the left side pillars of the broken bridge. This bridge was broken in flood 1995 and yet not built again. Kaul Singh several time assured that they are working on this matter, but nothing ever actually done for solve the issue . On the right side you can see a small temporary bridge made of woods. This bridge flows away every time when there is a little flood in Uhl river and villagers have to go round about 3KM long to reach the other side – the Multhan village (Multhan village is in Distt. Kangra , Baijnath block on the other side of the bridge)

broken-bridge-broat-valley

In this picture you can see the poor condition of the roads, that leads from Barot to Mayot village and was constructed about 6 years ago. The condition of the road is worse than a dirt road. It’s a shame to have such a lethargic governing body.

damaged-road-barot-valley-Joginder Nagar

This road leads from Barot to Bada Gram village ( in Kangra district ) was constructed approximately 20 years ago and yet no better than the ruins of devastated place Many time you have to cross a vehicle by driving over the water streams due to the lack of the bridge over it.”
barot-valley-Joginder Nagar

The valley is not fortunate enough to get any attention inspite of being full of potential of earning dollars for the state. Those who live in the valley or travel to the valley faces tough road and broken bridges.Why is that, the cries of public has been ignored even over a decade. That’s what the both parties calls development. It’s a single case, but it does show the attitude of these political parties, which lures the public with promises before the election and then turns their back to them once the elections are over. We suggest, now we should wait for the results of the polls to be held on November/4/2012 and then expect the new government to attend the issue as Mr. Kaul Singh didn’t find it considerable enough.

ECO-Tourism

Himachal to Set up 100 Swachhta Cafés Worth Rs. 10 Crore to Promote Traditional Cuisine, Collect Tonnes of Single-Use Plastic

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swachhta cafes in himachal pradesh

Shimla-Swachhta cafe would be set up in Himachal Pradesh with an estimated cost of around Rs. 10 crores by the year 2023. The State Government would set up around 100 such cafes. Ten such “Swachhta Café” would be set up at important locations of the state with an estimated cost of rupees one crore with a target to collect  25 tonnes of single-use plastic items from different parts of the state by end of this financial year.

It was informed by Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Virender Kanwar recently.

Under this “Swachta Café” program, plastic waste will be purchased from the ragpickers, individuals collecting waste from households and urban local bodies at Rs. 75 per kilogram in exchange for food or other eatable items to motivate the ragpickers and individuals to keep their surroundings clean.

The Swachhta cafe will be constructed under “Village Haat Scheme” where women will be facilitated to sell medicinal plants, such as giloye, peppermint, powder of neem leaves and homemade pickles, murabba, wheat flour, pulses, spices and vegetable vat reasonable prices.

The women running the Swachhta Cafe will be given training in the hospitality sector to enable them to cook popular traditional cuisine to maintain original flavour and taste of the dishes. Around 100 such women will be trained by the hospitality experts during the current financial year, he informed.

He further informed that a target has been fixed to train around five thousand women belonging to self-help groups in the next three years in the hospitality sector to run these cafes.

The first Swachhta Café was inaugurated at Gram Panchayat Radiali in Nalagarh area in Solan, which is to be run by women self-help groups and another cafe would be opened at Naggar in Kullu Districts. Under the scheme, if a person brings more plastic waste then he can use the surplus money for dining in next time in the cafe.

Minister said that the programme aims that villages are made completely free of single-use plastic in coming years and the entire state will be covered under the scheme in a phased manner in coming years. 

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HP Tourism to Cook 1100 kg ‘Khichari’ at Tattapani to Promote Tourism  

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Tourism Festival at tattapani shimla

Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department will organise ‘Tourism Festival’ on the occasion of Makar Sakranti on January 14, 2020, at Tattapani. It would be organised in collaboration with district Mandi Administration. This was disclosed by Director Tourism Department Yunus while presiding a meeting today.

He said that the objective of organizing this tourism festival is to promote Tattapani as a tourist destination. He said that for first-time tourism festival was being organised at Tattapani to make it tourism destination for Indian and Foreign tourists.

He informed that during this event, Water Sports, Satluj Aarti and cultural programmes would also be organised. On this occasion, 1100 kilogram’ Khichari’ would also be cooked and it would be especially cooked in a single utensil, he added.

This is for the first time in Himachal Pradesh that Khichari would be cooked in such large quantity and will be served to about 12,000 to 15,000 people. Special buses would also be plied by the Transport Department to reach Tattapani Tourism Festival from Mandi and Shimla on Makar Sakranti.

SDM Karsog, District Tourism Officer Mandi, representatives of NTPC, HPTDC, Language, Art and Culture Department and Tattapani Panchayat participated in the meeting among others.

 

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ADB funds Rs. 1900 crore tourism project for Himachal

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ADB Funds Tourism Project for Himachal Pradesh

The design of the project is based on the detailed baseline data, a study conducted of 324 sites in 12 districts of the state, suggestions obtained from about 90,000 tourists.

Shimla: The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has approved a tourism infrastructure development project worth about Rs. 1900 crores to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for development of tourism infrastructure in the urban and rural areas of Himachal Pradesh.

With the help of this ADB funded project, the state would develop tourism in rural, unexplored areas and improve the infrastructure of the towns and also generate employment for the local youths and showcase Himachal as the best natural tourist destination state, the State Government informed.

Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism Ram Subhag Singh further informed the project would be completed in eight years.

The project is supposed to focus on diversification of tourism to new and rural areas by developing tourism infrastructure, create livelihood and employment opportunities through rural, adventure and ecotourism.

The project also mentions the application of innovative models like incentive-based mechanisms for community-based tourism activities, augmentation of services like water supply, sewerage, solid waste, skill development related to the tourism sector, advertising and marketing etc.

He claimed it would be one of the finest examples of sustainable tourism in the Himalayan States.

The project will have both hard and soft components and will include beautification of towns, development of unexplored areas, conservation and restoration of heritage buildings, infrastructure development in adventure, eco, rural tourism with an emphasis on community participation and employment generation.

The design of the project is based on the detailed baseline data, a study conducted of 324 sites in 12 districts of the state and suggestions obtained from about 90,000 tourists and designed in line with sustainable tourism guideline for the Himalayan States.

The Union Ministry of Tourism, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs and Niti Ayog have also supported the project for tourism development in Himachal, it was informed. ADB Funds Tourism Project for Himachal Pradesh

The Government said the Department of Economic Affairs was satisfied with the performance and progress of the State on the ongoing ADB funded project of about Rs.600 crores.

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