 Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Pahalgam, Sept 17: Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed's dream project 'Amusement park' was thrown open on Thursday at Pahalgam.
Ministers for Horticulture, Haj and Auqaf, Abdul Rehman Veeri, threw open the Lidder Valley Amusement Park. Chairman J&K Bank, Mushtaq Ahmad, Secretary Tourism, Farooq Ahmad Shah, Executive President J&K Bank, Parviz Ahmad, senior officers of J&K Bank and Tourism Department accompanied the minister.
"Government has accorded top priority to the promotion of Tourism in the state. Footprints of high-end tourists will improve only if we will take steps towards creating world class facilities at all major tourist destinations," Ministers for Horticulture, Haj and Auqaf, Abdul Rehman Veeri told media after inaugurating the park.
He said that Lidder Valley Amusement Park was Chief Minister's dream project which suffered heavy losses in the past NC-Congress regime due to unknown reasons.
"We should promote tourism by creating opportunities of growth and employment in the sector," he added while asserting the need for undertaking a massive publicity drive to promote week-end and weekday packages.
Veeri said that government is adopting a multi- pronged strategy to boost growth of the sector. He said government is investing in creating tourist infrastructure including budgeted accommodations, wayside amenities, convocation centers, TRCs etc.
He said that all the resorts at major destinations will be developed in a planned way and construction for creating basic facilities for Tourists will be regulated by strictly abiding with the proper procedural norms, as laid down in the Master Plans.
Lidder Valley Amusement park, established by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank at a cost of Rs 3 Cr on 48 kanals of land in the midst of dense pine forests in year 2003 was closed down by the NC-Congress collation government due to political reasons.
This time J&K Bank was spent Rs 3.20 Cr for renovating the Lidder Valley Amusement Park under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. |
