Joint Director Tourism conducts spot visit
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 6: As directed by the Government, a team of officers from Tourism, Revenue, PWD and Forest Departments led by Aijaz Qaiser, Joint Director Tourism Jammu today visited Aithem near Surinsar lake to assess the site’s potential for development of an adventure hub.
The site has already been recommended by the experts from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering & Skiing Gulmarg for paragliding. The visit was intended to develop Aithem as hub for various adventure activities and to explore the option of recreational and leisure tourism in addition to its suitability for paragliding.
Commissioner Secretary Tourism Yasha Mudgal has already directed the field officers to take the line departments and stakeholders on board during the planning phase of every project so that infrastructure blends with the natural surroundings, adhering to eco-friendly development norms.
The adventure hub will come up as a major attraction site for nature lovers, bird watchers, star gazers, and adventure enthusiasts. The project will have state of art facilities like eateries, public conveniences, Sunrise and Sunset points and Yoga platform.
The Department of Tourism has already trained a batch of 23 paragliders in P1, P2, P3 levels in collaboration with NIMAS Training Institute, Seppa, Arunachal Pradesh. Vikas Gupta, Director Tourism Jammu has taken up the matter with Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports, Manali for imparting advance courses in paragliding (P4 &SIB) to the same set of 23 paragliders so that they can be eligible for their certification as tandem pilots.
To assess the site from a technical perspective including wind speed, wind direction and the gradient of the take-off point trained paragliders took-off solo test flights for the first hand experience and assessment. Their valuable insights on the infrastructure and interventions required to enhance the site’s appeal and safety were also sought. The site was also assessed to include Zip-line and para motoring activities.
Savita Chauhan, Deputy Director Tourism, Jammu, AEE PWD Jamal Din, Muzammil Hassan Choudhary, Assistant Director Tourism, Rajouri, Jagdish Singh, Naib Tehsildar Sidhra, Rajesh Raina, Tourist Officer, Samba, Dewakar Singh, Forest Officer Bajalta, Sanjay Gupta JE PWD, Patwari Imran Tak and other officials were accompanying the Joint Director Tourism.
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