To,
Shri. Vijay Bahuguna
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Dehradun
Fax-(0135)2712827
Smt. Amrita Rawat
Minister, Tourism
Uttarakhand, Dehradun
Fax-(0135)2666411
Subject: Need to remove
fear of “Unsafe Uttarakhand”
Respected
Sir,
As
we all know that recent disaster has damaged Uttarakhand and thus
lost links like roads and bridges, there is a scarcity of food etc in
remote villages, thousands became widows and orphan children, broken
houses and villages washed away. Govt and different agencies are
providing relief for the affected people.
Electronic
Media has been presenting grave pictures of the flood-time of
building collapses etc. But it’s not the case anymore. Cloudbursts
are common in Uttarakhand like in all Himalayan regions and they
occur in isolated areas. And "Heavy rains" do happen like
in every part of the country. Cloudbursts and Heavy rains are not
‘Breaking News'. In order to make the economy of Uttarakhand stand
on its own feet, we feel it is most important and need of the hour to
remove this fear from the minds of common people of the country about
Uttarakhand flood, cloudbursts, broken roads etc so that common
people, pilgrims and tourists can visit the state.
This
will generate income to Hotels, Dharmshalas, Ashrams, Guest Houses,
trek guides, porters, small shopkeepers, vendors, taxi owners etc.
Many tourist organisations, trek guides, porters are waiting for
work. They have become unemployed after the calamity. Apart from
relief work, this step is also necessary.
As
in our recent visits to Uttarakhand in the connection of relief work,
we found out that the impact of disaster is more on those people
living in other areas too which did not get affected due to the June
calamity.
Our
observation:-
The
serenity of Himalayas in Uttarakhand is still intact. Every peak is
green now. The mighty Ganga and its source rivers and tributaries are
flowing like they always do during this time of monsoon. Road blocks
on main roads are removed and occasional landslides are a common
phenomenon in this season and the maintenance department takes care
of them immediately. So that’s not a problem too.
From
Rishikesh to Badrinath, road until Govindghat is good and the buses
are plying up to Joshimath regularly. One can go to Pandukeshwar,
(where Badrinath ji idol is shifted for winter duration every year).
Very few interior roads are still to be built which were broken due
to Natural cum Man made calamity recently. All the five Prayags
(confluence) namely Devprayag, Rudraprayag, Karnprayag, Nandprayag
and Vishnuprayag are in good condition.
Road
from Rishikesh to Uttarkashi is also fine. There are many more
interesting places in Ganga, Bhagirathi and Alaknanda valleys like
Haridwar, Rishikesh, Neelkant, Dehradun, Mussorrie, Almora, Auli,
Nainital, Chopta, Karthikswamy, Ukhimath (Kedarnath idol is shifted
here now), Tungnath, Gopeshwar, Saptakund, Tapovan, PeepalKoti,
Malari, Pokhri, Meyali, Chirbatiya, Dhodital, Dhanolti,
Narendranagar, Ranikhet (Almora), Lensdown, Sonprayag, Khirsu,
Kanvashram, Guptkashi etc to visit. One can visit and stay nearby.
One can also go for trekking.
As
Govt. has recently said that the Char Dham Yatra will start
from 30th September, hence, before that it is required
that the fear of common people, pilgrims and tourists is removed by
presenting the actual picture via Media and break the myth of "Unsafe
Uttarakhand", so that people can start coming in the state. For
this we have some suggestions:-
- A campaign can be started by the State Government to attract people to visit the state. This can be done by giving a statement and some advertisements in print and visual media. Matu Jansangthan has already issued a Press Release with some recent photos (http://goo.gl/oCHi1Z) regarding this.
- State Tourism Department can organize some promotional campaigns in other states.
- Necessary actions should be taken to build trust of the people (residing outside the state) regarding Government’s plans and mechanisms.
Hoping
best from your end
Vimalbhai,
Puran S. Rana, Briharshraj Tadiyal, Rajendra S. Negi,
Dinesh S. Panwar
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