Shri AmarnathjiShrine Board responds to Travel and Hotel Industry suggestions, provides for local participation in Helicopter Bookings and Yatra Registration Srinagar, June 3 - To address the requirement of the Travel and Hotel industry in the State for facilitating travel of groups within J&K andto ensure enhanced participation and stakeholdership of the local tourand travel operators in the Shri Amarnathji Yatra, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) has decided to allocate a specific share in regard to the registration of Yatris for the travel and tour and hotelindustry of the State. Similarly, a modest share, to begin with, willalso be made available in regard to the booking of helicopter seats. The decision follows a meeting held by the Governor, Mr N.N. Vohra, who is the Chairman of SASB, with the representatives of hotel and travel industry, on 23rd May, 2009 and his earlier detailed discussions with the Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Shri Nawang Rigzin ... more

Historic 3-day Sudhmahadev Mela starting from June 6, 2009 Udhampur, June 03 - Arrangements for smooth conduct of historic 3-day Sudhmahadev mela starting from June 6, 2009 at Sudhmahadev, were reviewed at a meeting of district officers of various departments convened under the chairmanship of District Development Commissioner, Udhampur, Ajay Khajuria, here today. Chief Planning Officer, Divisional Town Planner, Officers of Health, Education, Police, PHE, PDD, PWD, ERA, PDA, RDD, NYK, , Youth Services and Sports, Agriculture & allied departments, President Dharamarth Trust, Thakur Diwakar Singh and President National Adventure Foundation, Col. Chandra, were present in the meeting ... more

Greek tour operators meet Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir     Chief Minister interacting with Greek Tour Operators. Srinagar, June 03 – Urging domestic and overseas tour operators and media to showcase J&K as a safe tourist destination, Chief Minister Mr. Omar Abdullah today said there has been a sea change in the situation and time has come to remove doubts from the minds of people visiting the State. He said enhanced tourist flow will push up State’s economy and bring in peace and stability. Talking this morning with a 24-member tour operators group from Greece, led by Ms. Mary Souli, Chief Minister said a positive change has taken place in the situation which can be visualized by everyone visiting the State ... more

Minister for Tourism and Culture on extensive tour of Ramban, Doda & Kishtwar. Takes on-spot assessment of ongoing tourist infrastructure Srinagar, June 03 - Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora today said that various proactive measures have been taken up to explore the immense tourism potential of the far off areas of the State. He called upon the concerned authorities to work with vigour and dedication to ensure the execution of ongoing projects well in time. Mr. Jora is on a three day tour of Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts to take on spot stock of the under execution tourism projects being carried out in these districts ... more

Shri AmarnathjiShrine Board responds to Travel and Hotel Industry suggestions, provides for local participation in Helicopter Bookings and Yatra Registration

Srinagar, June 3 - To address the requirement of the Travel and Hotel industry in the State for facilitating travel of groups within J&K andto ensure enhanced participation and stakeholdership of the local tourand travel operators in the Shri Amarnathji Yatra, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) has decided to allocate a specific share in regard to the registration of Yatris for the travel and tour and hotelindustry of the State. Similarly, a modest share, to begin with, willalso be made available in regard to the booking of helicopter seats. The decision follows a meeting held by the Governor, Mr N.N. Vohra, who is the Chairman of SASB, with the representatives of hotel and travel industry, on 23rd May, 2009 and his earlier detailed discussions with the Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Shri Nawang Rigzin.

As per the decision of the Board, the SASB shall earmark a daily allocation of 200 Yatra Registrations each, to the recognized Travel and Tour Operators, and a daily quota of 50 Registrations each, in favour of the Hotel industry, in each of the two Divisions of the State. Further, the SASB shall provide facilities, through the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Katra, a further allocation of 100 Registrations per day for the group tourists. A Spokesperson of the Board has advised the Associations to work out modalities with regard to the utilization of the earmarked allocations, to the group tourists, to facilitate their visits to the Holy Cave Shrine, as part of the overall tourism packages being offered by the members of these Associations. The Associations in each of the two regions will also get 15 seats each, on daily basis, for further utilization by their members/ stakeholders.

It may be recalled that besides on-line registrations the SASB has an arrangement with the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited for advance registration of the pilgrims, across the country, through its 110 designated branches. The Bank has started the registration process with effect from 20th May 2009.

Describing the decision as a significant step towards the promotion of tourism in the State and for forging effective linkages between pilgrim tourism and leisure tourism, the Spokesperson of the Board has appealed to the recognized Associations of Travel and Hotel industry, in both the divisions, to work out modalities for full utilization of the earmarked allocation of 500 Registration Slips and 30 helicopter seats per day, which have been made available to them.

Click here to read more information on Shri Amarnathji Yatra.

Historic 3-day Sudhmahadev Mela starting from June 6, 2009

Udhampur, June 03 - Arrangements for smooth conduct of historic 3-day Sudhmahadev mela starting from June 6, 2009 at Sudhmahadev, were reviewed at a meeting of district officers of various departments convened under the chairmanship of District Development Commissioner, Udhampur, Ajay Khajuria, here today.

Chief Planning Officer, Divisional Town Planner, Officers of Health, Education, Police, PHE, PDD, PWD, ERA, PDA, RDD, NYK, , Youth Services and Sports, Agriculture & allied departments, President Dharamarth Trust, Thakur Diwakar Singh and President National Adventure Foundation, Col. Chandra, were present in the meeting.

Threadbare discussion on various arrangements like security, traffic regulation, transport, parking of vehicles, accommodation, sanitation, first-aid, drinking water and power supply, checking of rates and quality of eatables, was held.
It was decided that to avoid any untoward incident, District Police would ensure adequate deployment of Police personnel while Traffic Police would check over loading and maintain smooth traffic flow and ARTO to press into service adequate number of buses and matadors. Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) was assigned the task of sanitizing the venue and provide flood lights.
The Executive Engineer, PHE and PDD were asked to ensure uninterrupted water and power supply with the provision of installing public points and a generator in the event of power failure. Executive Engineer, PWD, Udhampur, would erect temporary latrines at convenient sites. A team of officers headed by Naib Tehsildar, Sudhmahadev would keep a strict watch on the rates and quality of eatables for which a committee of officers has already been constituted.
For the entertainment of pilgrims, the Department of Youth Services and Sports in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra and Song and Drama Division (GOI) would organize cultural programmes and rural sports activities. Various departments would put their stalls to make the rural folk aware about State and centrally sponsored schemes.

This year, National Adventure Foundation is organizing Para Sailing event at picturesque Mantalai. Intending visitors can avail this facility.
The DDC emphasized upon the officers of departments concerned to make their all out efforts to accomplish their assigned tasks effectively in a coordinated manner so that mela culminates successfully. The DDC asked the officers to identify additional parking slots in Sudhmahdev area to minimize traffic jams besides adequate arrangements of accommodation for stay of visitors as paying guests.

President, Dharamarth Trust while speaking on the occasion said that Sudhmahadev mela is major festival of Udhampur district where thousands of people within and outside the State throng the mela site to seek the blessing of Lord Shiva besides having a glimpse of rich folk culture of the area. He appreciated the district administration for taking new initiatives to popularize this annual event in a big way.

Click here to read more information on Sudh Mahadev.

Greek tour operators meet Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir

Srinagar, June 03 – Urging domestic and overseas tour operators and media to showcase J&K as a safe tourist destination, Chief Minister Mr. Omar Abdullah today said there has been a sea change in the situation and time has come to remove doubts from the minds of people visiting the State. He said enhanced tourist flow will push up State’s economy and bring in peace and stability.

Talking this morning with a 24-member tour operators group from Greece, led by Ms. Mary Souli, Chief Minister said a positive change has taken place in the situation which can be visualized by everyone visiting the State.

Mr. Abdullah said media and tour operators have a critical role to play in highlighting J&K as a safe tourist destination which will help in reviving the tourism industry. He said tour operators could be instrumental in persuading European and other western countries to issue fresh advisories regarding safety in visiting J&K. Sharing her experience of visiting the valley, Ms. Souli praised State’s natural beauty and described it as God’s gifted land and added that Kashmir is as normal as any other part of the world. “We have not seen anything unusual here. Protests take place everywhere including our own country”, Ms. Souli said.

Praising people’s hospitality, Ms. Souli said, “Wherever we went, we were received with love and affection and care was taken of our smallest requirements”.

The Greek tour leader said national and international tour operators should advise foreign visitors to visit Kashmir so that any doubt or fear in their minds is removed. She also suggested measures for improving infrastructure and services in the State with special reference to houseboats in Dal Lake. “Like J&K, Greece is a tourism-driven place”, she said, adding the State offers a lot to intending tourist in terms of tourism potential.

Ms. Souli assured the Chief Minister that she will remove misgivings about traveling to Kashmir and would be sending at least a group of about 20 tourists to the State every week which will include visitors from Greece, Thailand and other parts of the world.

Minister for Tourism and Culture on extensive tour of
Ramban, Doda & Kishtwar.
Takes on-spot assessment of ongoing tourist infrastructure

Srinagar, June 03 - Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora today said that various proactive measures have been taken up to explore the immense tourism potential of the far off areas of the State. He called upon the concerned authorities to work with vigour and dedication to ensure the execution of ongoing projects well in time.

Mr. Jora is on a three day tour of Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts to take on spot stock of the under execution tourism projects being carried out in these districts.

The Minister inspected Khilani Tourist Resort where a multi-faceted tourism infrastructure was created at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore.

On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer, Bhadarwah Development Authority briefed the Minister that six fabric glass Dome Hutments have been constructed at the resort at a cost of Rs 70 lakh while as a restaurant also stands completed involving an expenditure of Rs 17 lakh. He said that to add beauty to the resort a garden developed by floriculture department, three ponds and a herbal garden having lilium have also been developed.

The Minister on his enroute tour of Banihal and Ramban asked the concerned agencies to promote the pilgrimage places at Banihal Ziarat of Dastgir Sahib, Karwa and Mehmood Shah at Daligam as pilgrim tourist destination. He also instructed for maintenance of cleanliness in and around of TRC complexes, cafeterias at Ramban and Banihal.

While inspecting Rs 8 crore TRC Amrinagar project at Bhadarwah, the Minister was informed that so far Rs 3 crore have been expanded on its executions. He stressed upon the concerned executing agency that the complex should be completed within stipulated timeframe with all necessary modern facilities for the tourists.

Mr. Jora also inspected Rs 2.50 crore Malini bridge and Rs 3.04 crore Bhalla bridge. These bridges have been completed in a record period of nine months connecting 15 villages of the area in Doda district.

The Minister appreciated the commendable work of Executive Engineer R&B Bhadarwah and other field staff for completing those bridges in a short period.