In addition to developing a safari park, the State’s Tourism and Culture minister Satpal Maharaj is also planning development of Chaurasi Kutia visited by the Beatles into a major tourist spot. In a meeting with officials at the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, the minister said that along with operating various tourism activities, focus should also be laid on maintenance of heritage spots.
He directed the officials to prepare a proposal for developing Chaurasi Kutia near Rishikesh from the tourism point of view. Maharaj said that he will request the Prime Minister to enable transfer of the right to maintain the site from the forest department to the tourism department. He said that the site has become dilapidated in absence of maintenance. If the tourism department is given the responsibility of maintaining this site, it will be conserved as a “world heritage” which will attract tourists from around the world. The minister further directed officials to start working on a plan for developing a safari park in the state. He said that by communicating with the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he is attempting to get one of the white tigers of Rewa to Uttarakhand. Stating that since the inner line has been discontinued in the Niti valley, he said that officials should focus on facilitating Timmersain Mahadev Yatra from March 2021 along with tourism activities in the valley. Audio and video publicity of tourism should be undertaken so that tourists coming to the state also learn in detail about the state’s culture. He also spoke about working seriously on the merger of GMVN and KMVN.
Tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar, additional secretary Sonika, additional directors Vivek Chauhan, Poonam Chand and other officials concerned were also present in the meeting.
