Updated 18:47 IST | Saturday, February 04, 2012
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Punjab govt approves plans to bring Amritsar on International Tourism circuit
Kanwal Preet Kaur
Saturday, 14 November 2009
CHANDIGARH: An integrated multi thousand crore plan to put Historic City Amritsar, on International Tourist Circuit, was Saturday approved by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria.
The plan would involve construction of heritage village, preservation and beatification of Ram Bagh Gardens, preservation of historic Town Hall building, setting up of Food Street, development of pedestrian plaza opposite Golden Temple, restoration and preservation of Historic Gates and massive restoration of Gobindgarh Fort besides strengthening the infrastructure of Amritsar City to make it tourist friendly city.
Presiding over a high level meeting of Punjab Heritage Board here, in which senior official of various implementation agencies including that of Tourism, Local Government, Municipal Corporation Amritsar, Punjab Police, Transport Department and international consultants involved in the planning process participated, Mr.Badal said that Amritsar has a potential to emerge as No.1 International Tourist Hub if we are able to prolong the stay of religious tourist by few days and attract more international tourists. He said that he was chairing this meeting to ensure coordinated approach so that all participating agencies move with a collective agenda rather than to work at cross purpose.
Unveiling the vision, Badal said that Archeological Survey of India would put up their conceptual plan for the development of Ram Bagh and after that Municipal Corporation would hand over the possession of Ram Bagh to ASI. It was approved in the meeting to develop historic Town Hall and adjoining area as place of heritage importantance, in synergy with the surrounding area Golden Temple. The offices in the town hall would be shifted to alternate location and Town Hall would be developed by Tourism Department in association with PIDB.
Emphasizing on attracting additional tourist to Amritsar city, Mr.Badal approved the plan of Heritage Village to be set up on G.T.Road, in the area provided by GNDU. Mr.Badal said that the management and construction of Heritage Village would be outsourced to private specialized agency.
It was also approved to ply eco-friendly Hop on Hop off buses connecting various religious places. The Sulabh International would construct and maintain 33 toilets in the city for the convenience of tourists.
Badal asked Transport Department to tie up with Tourism Department to start conducted tours on religious circuits including Chandigarh-Fatehgarh Sahib-Sirhind-Chamkaur Sahib-Ropar-Anandpur Sahib-Nangal-Chandigarh, Chandigarh-Patiala, Damdama Sahib-Talwandi Sabon, Mukatsar-Chandigarh and third on Chandigarh-Amritsar-Khadoor Sahib-Baba Bakala-Sultanpur Lodhi-Kartarpur-Chandigarh routes.
Prominent amongst those who participated in the meeting included Master Mohan Lal, Transport Minister, Mr. Shwet Malik, Mayor Amritsar, Geetika Kalha, Principal Secretary Tourism, D.S.Jaspal, Principal Secretary Transport, D.S.Bains, Secretary Local Government, Vishwajit Khanna, Principal Secretary/Deputy Chief Minister, K.S.Pannu, Deputy Commissioner Amritsar, Manvesh Sidhu, Additional Secretary/Deputy Chief Minister and other senior officers of concern departments.
The plan would involve construction of heritage village, preservation and beatification of Ram Bagh Gardens, preservation of historic Town Hall building, setting up of Food Street, development of pedestrian plaza opposite Golden Temple, restoration and preservation of Historic Gates and massive restoration of Gobindgarh Fort besides strengthening the infrastructure of Amritsar City to make it tourist friendly city.
Presiding over a high level meeting of Punjab Heritage Board here, in which senior official of various implementation agencies including that of Tourism, Local Government, Municipal Corporation Amritsar, Punjab Police, Transport Department and international consultants involved in the planning process participated, Mr.Badal said that Amritsar has a potential to emerge as No.1 International Tourist Hub if we are able to prolong the stay of religious tourist by few days and attract more international tourists. He said that he was chairing this meeting to ensure coordinated approach so that all participating agencies move with a collective agenda rather than to work at cross purpose.
Unveiling the vision, Badal said that Archeological Survey of India would put up their conceptual plan for the development of Ram Bagh and after that Municipal Corporation would hand over the possession of Ram Bagh to ASI. It was approved in the meeting to develop historic Town Hall and adjoining area as place of heritage importantance, in synergy with the surrounding area Golden Temple. The offices in the town hall would be shifted to alternate location and Town Hall would be developed by Tourism Department in association with PIDB.
Emphasizing on attracting additional tourist to Amritsar city, Mr.Badal approved the plan of Heritage Village to be set up on G.T.Road, in the area provided by GNDU. Mr.Badal said that the management and construction of Heritage Village would be outsourced to private specialized agency.
It was also approved to ply eco-friendly Hop on Hop off buses connecting various religious places. The Sulabh International would construct and maintain 33 toilets in the city for the convenience of tourists.
Badal asked Transport Department to tie up with Tourism Department to start conducted tours on religious circuits including Chandigarh-Fatehgarh Sahib-Sirhind-Chamkaur Sahib-Ropar-Anandpur Sahib-Nangal-Chandigarh, Chandigarh-Patiala, Damdama Sahib-Talwandi Sabon, Mukatsar-Chandigarh and third on Chandigarh-Amritsar-Khadoor Sahib-Baba Bakala-Sultanpur Lodhi-Kartarpur-Chandigarh routes.
Prominent amongst those who participated in the meeting included Master Mohan Lal, Transport Minister, Mr. Shwet Malik, Mayor Amritsar, Geetika Kalha, Principal Secretary Tourism, D.S.Jaspal, Principal Secretary Transport, D.S.Bains, Secretary Local Government, Vishwajit Khanna, Principal Secretary/Deputy Chief Minister, K.S.Pannu, Deputy Commissioner Amritsar, Manvesh Sidhu, Additional Secretary/Deputy Chief Minister and other senior officers of concern departments.
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