SHIMLA: Tourists visiting Kangra and Dharamsala areas of Himachal Pradesh can hope for added attractions like water sports, Shikaras and houseboats in Pong Dam reservoir in near future.
“The government is preparing a master plan to cash in on the tourism potential of the water reservoir and the concept of cottages, resorts and bird watching could also be introduced alongside the 65 Km stretch of the dam,” said Vice Chairman of State Tourism Development Board, Vijay Singh Mankotia.
The private sector has shown interest in these activities and “we may engage private players in translating the idea into action,” he added.
Talking to media persons here, Mankotia expressed anguish over red-tapism in the government set up and rued that tourism plans remain buried in files and asserted that “Tourism can’t be file exercise, it has to take shape on the ground.”
He said he had personally talked to the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and asked him to expedite the plans.
“I have also talked to CM regarding involving the private sector in promoting tourism and told him that the government cannot do it the way it is doing. There is resistance in the government on this, but we will have to go with the private sector for result oriented tourism,” he stressed.
Referring to the lingering proposals for construction of ropeways in the state due to tendency of tendering, re-tendering and filing of projects, he said he had been associated with the tourism sector for over 20 years and also served as tourism minister, but he was sorry to say that the progress on ropeways front was far from appreciable in the state.
Mankotia said that after much effort, three out of the six ropeways projects were cleared recently by the government, while many others have been hanging fire and have almost been buried deep in files. -PTI
