Tourists thronging scenic locales in remote areas of the country can now savour hot tea or coffee and local cuisine at roadside cafes. They can also park their cars or two-wheelers there and avail of first aid if need be.
Realising the huge potential of boosting tourism and providing employment to the local populace as tourists are now venturing out to the inaccessible areas due to better road connectivity, the Defence Ministry has approved setting up of “BRO Cafes’ across the country, especially in border areas stretching from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east.
In a novel initiative to provide basic wayside amenities like first aid and comfort to tourists travelling in remote areas, the Ministry has given the go-ahead for cafes at 75 locations in 12 States and Union Territories. They will be known as ‘BRO cafes’ as most of them will come up on roads constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
These cafes, besides providing food and other amenities to tourists will also boost economic activities in border areas and generate employment for the local populace, the Defence Ministry said here on Wednesday. Giving details of the scheme, officials said these amenities will be located on different sections of roads with the BRO. It has its reach in the remotest border areas and besides addressing strategic needs, it has been instrumental in socio-economic uplift of the Northern and Eastern borders.
This has resulted in increased tourist influx in these scenic locations, hitherto inaccessible. In order to provide conducive and comfortable transit of tourists on these roads located at harsh climatic and geographical conditions, the need to establish multi-utility wayside amenities along the major tourist circuits in these regions was recognised. Since the inaccessibility and remoteness of these roads preclude widespread commercial deployments, the BRO, by virtue of its presence, took it upon itself to open such facilities at remote places.
The scheme provides for development and operation of wayside amenities in public private partnership mode with agencies, on license basis, which will design, build and operate the facility as per guidelines of the BRO.
Amenities like parking for two and four wheelers, food plaza or restaurant, separate restrooms for men, women and differently abled and first aid facilities are proposed to be provided. Selection of licencees will be done through a competitive process. The terms of the agreement will be for 15 years which may be further extended for a period up to five years. The 75 ‘BRO Cafes’ will be located in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.