Homestay providing rural experience during their Himalayan sojourn comes as a centre of attraction for the devotees of the Aadi Kailash pilgrimage.This is for the first time when the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) has extended the homestay facilities to the pilgrims of the Aadi Kailash.Popularising the community tourism, the KMVN has initially engaged Kuti village that falls on the Aadi Kaillash pilgrimage route in this home stay business. The interesting fact is that the pilgrims of the Aadi Kailash that started from June 9 this year, have greatly welcomed that kind of home stay facility during their Himalayan sojourn in Kunti village.
The basic purpose of extending the home stay facility to the devotees of the Aadi Kailash is to make them aware about the Kumaon’s rich cultural heritage and more importantly to provide them a kind of homely atmosphere, said Dhiraj Singh Garbyal, Managing MD, KMVN. More so, inclusion of home stay is also an aim to provide job opportunities to local youths. Efforts would be made to popularise home stay through community tourism here, he added.
Mention worthy, the KMVN operates this Aadi Kailash pilgrimage also and also looks after the hospitality aspect of this pilgrimage. However, when asked would the KMVN also extend such home stay facility to the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims, Garbyal maintained that since the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage is held under the supervision of the Ministry of External Affairs only the Ministry can take such a decision in this regard.
However, the Aadi-Kailash pilgrimage starting from Delhi via Pithoragarh began this year from June 9 and reaches the Aadi-Kailash via various hill stations of the Kumaon division like Haldwani, Kathgodam, Jageshwar (Almora), Dharchula, Sirkha, Gala, Bundi, Gunji, Kuti, Jyoligong and then Aadi Kailash.In the same time, the same pilgrimage will continue till September, 2015, officials said. The fact is that pilgrim route of both the Aadi-Kailash and Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimages up to Gunji in Pithoragarh, is same. But to reach Aadi-Kailsah the devotees have to approach two important points Kutti and Jyoligon after Gunji.
The interesting fact is that the Aadi- Kailalsh is not only of religious importance for many, it also provides a lot of opportunity for adventurous tourism. So apart from its religious importance, the upper reaches of the Aadi- Kailash pilgrimage route are also rich with a lot of natural beauty comprising many a number of glaciers, meadows and flora and fauna .The State Government has of late also stressed on how to popularise this Aadi- Kailash pilgrimage and other such traditions which could not only promote old culture and civilisations but also attract more tourists to Uttarakhand in the days ahead.