Uttarakhand has lost the much needed cooperation of the Japan Government in modernisation of the tourism sector, including the facelift of the Char dham Yatra route at a time when the State Gove rnment needed it the most.
Work had been going on to finalise the project between the officials concerned of the Tourism Development Council (TDC), Uttarakhand, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the past two years. The focus of this ambitious tourism project in which the JICA had shown interest to invest upto Rs 700 core, was on modernisation of tourism infrastructure in the hill State and more importantly, strengthening basic services on the important Char dham pilgrimage route.
More so, in this regard, the JICA had sought a detailed proposal from the department concerned of the State Government on how the tourism sector in Uttarakhand could be modernised. Subsequently, the State tourism department submitted a proposal covering all requisite details to the concerned authorities of the JICA.
“But the authorities concerned at JICA did not approve of the pattern in which we had submitted our plan for modernisation of the tourism infrastructure in the hill State,” AK Dwivedi, Joint Director, Tourism Development Council (TDC), Dehradun, told The Pioneer in an exclusive interview.
“We would like to maintain that preparations from our side were full. But later on, it seems the officials concerned of the JICA did not show any interest in cooperating with us in the tourism sector. Therefore, the project could not move forward,” Dwivedi added. Rajendra S Markuna n Haldwani Uttarakhand has lost the much needed cooperation of the Japan Government in modernisation of the tourism sector, including the facelift of the Char dham Yatra route at a time when the State Gove rnment needed it the most.
Work had been going on to finalise the project between the officials concerned of the Tourism Development Council (TDC), Uttarakhand, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the past two years.
The focus of this ambitious tourism project in which the JICA had shown interest to invest upto Rs 700 core, was on modernisation of tourism infrastructure in the hill State and more importantly, strengthening basic services on the important Char dham pilgrimage route.
More so, in this regard, the JICA had sought a detailed proposal from the department concerned of the State Government on how the tourism sector in Uttarakhand could be modernised. Subsequently, the State tourism department submitted a proposal covering all requisite details to the concerned authorities of the JICA.
“But the authorities concerned at JICA did not approve of the pattern in which we had submitted our plan for modernisation of the tourism infrastructure in the hill State,” AK Dwivedi, Joint Director, Tourism Development Council (TDC), Dehradun, told The Pioneer in an exclusive interview.
“We would like to maintain that preparations from our side were full. But later on, it seems the officials concerned of the JICA did not show any interest in cooperating with us in the tourism sector. Therefore, the project could not move forward,” Dwivedi added.