Ordinarily, ‘prasad’ is an important ingredient of offering prayers and performing puja usually in the morning hours and what it constitutes hardly needs any explanation but in the context, what we are referring to is related to Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) which in short, is to promote religious tourism and hence all-round development of pilgrimage destinations .Without any sort of hotchpotch, the scheme is aimed at developing all such identified promising destinations in a planned, prioritised and sustainable manner. Not only is the innovative scheme aimed at promoting religious tourism but generating vast employment opportunities and economic development too. Local art, culture, food specialities and cuisines, handicrafts and the like also are destined to get a boost and get increasingly promoted. Having said all this, we know Jammu region is all blessed with many such destinations which are not only ancient, highly revered but most of those are located and situated in picturesque surroundings. We know in this connection, the importance of Purmandal and Utterbehni in Samba district on the banks of the holy Devika river where a year back, Union Minister of State for Tourism paid a visit finding that the promising destinations were in dire need of the requisite infrastructure in the absence of which the footfall of the tourists and even locals visiting these famous shrines remained more or less static. He fortunately insisted that necessary initiative could be taken by the UT Government, so as to consider the rejuvenation exercise of these two destinations by the concerned Union Ministry. Accordingly, a Detailed Project Report in respect of these two famous religo-tourist destinations comprising issues like conservation and restoration of temples, historic Bowli renovation, building Sanskrit Vidhyalaya, and the like was sent to the concerned Ministry exactly a year back for according approval. However, contrary to the expectations, till date nothing is heard from the concerned ministry. It is astonishing to note that preliminary works even in respect of the project like giving a facelift to the entrance gateway and other basic facilities like improvement of roads, bus stand up-gradation, pathways development , public conveniences and utilities, improvements in bathing ghats and beautifying adjoining parks continue to remain unattended. We feel, at least, these works could have been started by the UT Government and since the entire scheme of PRASAD is funded by the Union Government, the money expended on these works could have been claimed on reimbursement basis by the UT. What we want to convey is that the said temples and monuments etc are in a dilapidated condition since so far due to sheer apathy, no one in the Government bothered to do anything about even some renovations and repairs of these priceless religious and tourist destinations. We recall, in this context, the words of the Union Minister on his visit here that (the condition of these temples being such that) work on these should, in fact have been started 50 years ago. That depicts the urgency about the PRASAD scheme needing to be implemented in letter and spirit to not only save these temples from imminent ruin but exploring them for tourism and generating economic activities in a big way. We, therefore, hope that the Union Ministry shall look into the matter on priority basis and accord approval to the project report which is reportedly lying in its office as the project for development of these two destinations under PRASAD was mooted even during 2015-16 when it was launched by the Central Government in the country but for reasons not known , the then PDP- BJP Government of the erstwhile state did not find out its way in proceeding ahead with the proposal.
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