While the Congress party steps up effort to publicise the numerous “achievements” of the State Government in the face of “apathy” and cuts in budgetary allocation by the Central Government, the Uttarakhand Government’s own official website continues to prominently display embarrassing errors and outdated information like the banner proclaiming “Uttarakhand welcomes you to Char Dham Yatra-2015, a religious retreat in the Himalayas…”.
Clicking on this banner takes one to an outdated webpage of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB), where similar blunders including Yamountri (sic) greet a visitor to the State’s official websites. Even the shrine to lord Badrinath presiding over the region has been wrongly spelled as a temple dedicated to lord “vishni”.
The State Government claims to have succeeded in reviving the Char Dham Yatra but the prominent blunders and outdated information displays are liable to raise questions at the veracity of claims made by the UTDB—the highest body to advise Government on all matters relating to tourism in Uttarakhand while also functioning as a licensing and regulatory authority.
Observers cite such protracted ineptness maintained by the authorities even as the Congress hails CM Harish Rawat for “success” in restoring pilgrimage and tourism after the June 2013 disaster.
The official claims about execution of wide ranging developmental works including e-governance may appear questionable to one visiting the State Government’s official website uk.gov.in designed, developed and hosted by the National Informatics Centre, Uttarakhand.
The series of uncertainties begins at the home page where, an introduction of the State places its location “at the foothills of the Himalayan mountain ranges”. The introductory paragraph which is 151 words in length has only one-aforementioned reference to the Himalaya without any mention of Uttarakhand being one of the purportedly prominent Himalayan States of India.
Clicking one of the the banners “Uttarakhand welcomes you to Chardham Yatra 2015….” being slideshowed on the State Government website’s homepage for some months now, takes one to further outdated and erroneous presentation of data on the UTDB website uttarakhandtourism.gov.in which is supposedly being presented to elicit interest and attract tourists from across the world. On the UTDB website one is once again greeted by a banner proclaiming “Uttarakhand welcomes you to Chardham Yatra 2015”.
The Char Dham Yatra schedule displayed is of the 2015 pilgrimage period irrespective of the general expectation for latest information which the officials aver to be providing.
Though both politicians and bureaucrats consistently emphasise the importance of the Char Dham Yatra also in the State’s economy, the brief description of Badrinath temple states that it is a temple dedicated to lord vishni (sic) while another of the Char Dham shrines-Yamunotri has been spelled Yamountri (sic) on the board’s website which also informs the visitor about the page being last updated on March 27, 2015.
In the “About UTDB” section it exhibits more errors stating, “It also have (sic) five non- official members from the private sector and experts in tourism related matters.” As part of its “Mission & Vision” the board is stated to be focused on placing Uttarakhand “on the tourism map of the world as one of the leading tourist destinations, and to make Uttarakhand synonymous with tourism”.
It states, “To develop tourism as a major source of empbyment (sic) and income/revenue generation….”
With the statutory board being chaired by the state tourism minister with chief secretary as it's vice chairman, one might not expect such blatant errors and outdated display to continue for months of its official website.
The ‘excuse’ for such blunders on departmental websites is provided at the bottom of the state government website.
It states, “Contents published on various websites/links available on this Portal are being managed and maintained by concerned Departments/Institutions/Organisations of Uttarakhand, through their respective Web Information Manager.
For any content related query on these links, please contact concerned departments.” However, one is liable to question whether such official ineptness which continues to the detriment of the state’s image should be treated so casually by the officials concerned.