Stressing on making concerted efforts to promote tourism in the state’s Kandi region, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday asked the officers concerned to prepare a detailed blueprint for developing this area as major tourist destination laying thrust on developing areas around Ranjit Sagar Dam, Shahpur Kandi Dam, and Kandi areas of Hoshiarpur district.

Mann, chairing a meeting of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), said that the state government is making strenuous efforts for developing areas around Ranjit Sagar Dam, Shahpur Kandi Dam, and Kandi areas of Hoshiarpur district. “These areas can be developed as ideal tourist destinations for attracting tourists from across the globe. There is huge potential for developing these areas as a tourist destination for which all out efforts will be made,” he said.

Bemoaning that these areas have been ignored in the pace of development due to negligence of the successive state governments, Mann said that the untapped potential of tourism in these areas should be harnessed for attracting the tourists to these places with immense natural beauty.

The Chief Minister asked the officers concerned to prepare a detailed blueprint for the development of the entire region so that a major fillip can be given to tourism sector in the State.

He said that this area is blessed with bounty of natural resources which can attract the tourists from across the globe. “This is the need of hour for promotion of economic activity in the region thereby transforming the lives of people,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the State Government has already cleared water adventure tourism policy for the promotion of water sports which can also be implemented here. Mann envisioned that the day is not far when after sprucing up the infrastructure this region becomes a hub of the tourists across the country. He said that these areas can act as a catalyst for further emerging Punjab on the map of international tourism.