Sunday, 06 OCTOBER 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The women of Uttarakhand will soon be seen taking tourists for rafting on the Ganga river in Rishikesh. So far, 14 women have been trained as white water river rafting guides by the Tourism department. After the completion of the registration process, they are ready to start their career as professional rafting guides, officials claimed.
Rishikesh has emerged as a major centre for rafting in recent years with more than five lakh tourists coming here for rafting every year. So far, only men were guiding and conducting rafting in the region. For the first time, on the instructions of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Tourism department has given free training to women as river rafting guides. The Tourism department gave free training to 14 selected women for three months from April to June. The department also paid for the accommodation and meals of the trainees.
Kayaking enthusiast Priyanka Rana, a resident of Siransu village in Pauri district, is currently doing BBA. She said that rafting is a major activity near her village. “I got registered when I came to know about the training. I am looking forward to building my career as a rafting guide,” she said.
Ramnagar resident Kamakshi Goyal said that she was already working in the whitewater field, so she took rafting training to enhance her skills. For this, she got free food and accommodation facilities along with three months of training from the Uttarakhand government.
Rishikesh resident Muskan said that she was trained by experts for three months and that she went on a raft on the Ganga from Devprayag to Rishikesh for a week during the training.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “There are considerable employment opportunities in the field of adventure tourism in Uttarakhand. A large number of women tourists are also coming for rafting. In such a situation, efforts are being made to train women as raft guides. It is good that women have shown interest in this, this will prove to be an important step towards empowering the females of Uttarakhand.”
