His constitutional obligations may not grant him that kind of liberty to speak on matters related to governance or politics, but Speaker of State legislative Assembly Govind Singh Kunjwal’s disappointment on issues of greater public interests surface time and again.
Expressing concern over particularly the sufferings of the victims of the natural disaster and present state of tourism sector in the mountain State, Govind Singh Kunjwal has said that though efforts are on by the Government, a lot needs to be done to mitigate the hardships of the people affected due to natural calamity in different parts of the hill State.
Works have to be done in a systematic manner in the natural disaster affected areas so that prompt relief could be provided to the needy, maintained the Speaker during his Kumaon visit on Sunday after returning from Common-wealth Parliamentary Speakers Association’s (CPSA) conference held recently in South Africa.
On way back to India after attending the CPSA’s meet in South Africa, I had an opportunity to visit Mauritius, Singapore and Hong Kong. “During my sojourn in abroad as I observed, these nations seems to be far ahead of us as far as the present state of tourism sector in Uttarakhand is concerned,” Kunjwal further said.
A lot has been done in tourism sector in these countries. Civic sense of people of these nations is quite impressive. Cleanliness and good hygienic conditions in these countries only give that impression, Kunjwal said, adding more so, basic infrastructure facilities in the said countries are far better than what we have had in Uttarakhand.
The matter of concern is that over the years we have not done much to develop Uttarakhand as a tourism destination, Kunjwal said. The matter of fact is that there is no dearth of tourism spots in Uttarakhand. There are a number of tourist spots like Munsyari in Pithoragarh which can be developed as a major tourist destination given its huge natural beauty. But without having basic infrastructure how can tourists be attracted to these natural tourist spots like Munsyari located in upper Himalayan region, he asked.
Even we have not done much in tourist places like Nainital and Mussorie as needed to accommodate changing mood of the tourists. We must work hard to make Uttarakhand a major hill tourist destination, he said, emphasing on the need to formulate a long term plan to develop tourism infrastructure in the hill State.