Development of tourist destinations priority of JK Administration: Advisor Baseer  Khan

Udhampur, March17: To boost the tourism sector in the  region, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad  Khan  today visited famous tourist hill station Patnitop and convened a meeting of officers of Patnitop Development Authority (PDA), district officers, Hotels & Restaurant Owners  at JKTDC Conference Hall here.

The meeting was attended by  Secretary Tourism, Sarmad Hafeez; District Development Commissioner, Ramban Massarat Islam; MD JKTDC, Nissar Ahmed; Director Tourism, Jammu Naseem Javid Chowdhary; SSP, Ramban, Haseeb -Ur- Rehman; Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mohd Syed Khan; CEO PDA, Sachin Dev Singh Jamwal and other officers besides Hotel and Restaurant owners.

While addressing the meeting, the Advisor said that the area is under main focus of UT government and tourism circuit is under consideration for promotion of tourism here. He further said that every possible effort will be made to boost  tourism in the area for its overall development.

The Advisor said that tourism is the backbone of economic development of the UT and plays an important role in  raising the economic standards of  people.

Advisor Khan added that Patnitop is one of the famous hill resort of J&K and there is a need to attract more and more tourists to this place during all seasons.

During the visit, a delegation of Hotel and Restaurant Owners met with Advisor and put forth their demands like seeking adequate provision for drinking water, proper collection of garbage, repair and black topping of Patnitop circular road, upgradation of road networks, functioning of public utilities, traffic congestion, adequate infrastructure to tap the full tourism potential of the area, proper disposal of waste material, fire tender and ATM facilities, medical facility, functioning of sewerage treatment plant, development of parks, Tulip garden at Patnitop, installation of sign boards for the convenience of tourists and development of Gouri kund circuit etc.

Advisor gave a patient hearing to the issues and demands put forth by the delegation and assured them that the Government will take adequate measures for redressal of their genuine issues.

While responding to the demands of Patnitop circular road, Advisor Khan directed CEO PDA to gear up the process of  repair and black topping of Patnitop circular road and complete it within given timeline.

Xen UEED was  directed to expedite the work of  sewerage treatment plant and complete it within one month for proper disposal of solid waste. He called upon the stakeholders to help the Administration to keep famous tourist destination neat, clean and polythene free .For this purpose, he directed to organize joint cleanliness and awareness drives with involvement of other stakeholders.

At the outset, Secretary Tourism  briefed the Advisor about various developmental initiatives taken for the overall development of tourist destination. He said several steps have been taken by the department for promotion and diverting the tourists who visit Vaishno Devi Shrine to Patnitop and other tourist destinations of the district.