Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat, while interacting with media persons, has said that the state government was eyeing tourism in a big way for the generation of employment in Uttarakhand. He said that one main reason behind organizing the Cabinet meeting at Tehri Lake was to bring Tehri Lake and all the tourist destinations of the Uttarakhand on the world tourism map. Chief Minister said that as part of this initiative, the Tehri Lake Festival is also being organised. He said that with the all- round development of the Tehri Lake, the benefit of the development will reach to the people upto Ghansali, Pratapnagar and Chinyalisaur. Chief Minister said that government is celebrating this year as ‘Employment Year’. He said that more and more employment opportunities would be generated for the youth of the state.
Chief Minister said that ‘Pirul’ policy (Pine Needles Policy) brought by the government is expected to annually generate 150 MW power from 14 lakh metric tonne ‘Pirul’ besides employment for 60,000 people. He said that from the benefit of ‘Pirul’ policy, the village women and youth can monthly earn Rs 8,000 to Rs.10,000. He further said that for 25 KW power, about 500 square meter land is required and it would provide direct and indirect employment to ten persons.
Chief Minister Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat reached Koti Colony, Tehri on Wednesday and reviewed the preparations for the Tehri Lake Festival. Chief Minister had gone to Tehri to preside over the cabinet meeting. He said that Tehri Lake Festival would be publicized not only at the national level but among the foreign tourists as well. He asserted that Tehri has to be developed as a tourist destination of international level. Tourists from outside places have to be attracted towards this destination. He said that arrangements should be done to record the experiences of the tourists besides taking feedback from them.
Chief Minister said that today’s efforts should be made keeping in mind the coming tomorrow. The Chief Minister conducted inspection in Tehri Lake for about 30 minutes in a boat. He also instructed the Tourism Department that lake and the surrounding areas must be kept on top priority schemes. On this occasion, Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj was also present.
On this occasion, Tehri District Magistrate Sonika gave information about the preparations for the Lake Festival. The festival will be organized from May 25 to 27. Many events would be organized that will include cultural programmes, adventure sports and Yoga. The main attraction of the festival would be the floating huts of the Lake, the bookings for which are being done by the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam. DM said that a dialogue has been initiated with tour operators asking them to include Lake Festival also in their packages. On this occasion, Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and Secretary, Tourism, Dilip Jawalkar were also present.
