Govt. developing border tourism in J&K, to lure visitors

Govt. developing border tourism in J&K, to lure visitors
Yash Khajuria	9/27/2011 9:03:47 PM
JAMMU, Sept 27: Travel enthusiasts will now get a chance to soak in the wholesome beauty of nature with Tourism Department and state government making a big plan to develop border areas in Jammu district on the pattern of “Wagah Border of Punjab”, for tourists. Under the plan, religious places on the International Border (IB) and Suchetgarh post will be developed for the purpose. Director tourism, Robin Singh Mehta has informed that the project for the development of border areas of Jammu for tourism attraction has been sanctioned and now the authorities are analyzing the components of the project and the work on the said project will begin soon. He stated that at the initial stage we will work on the said project from Octroi border outpost (BOP) here along Indo-Pak border which will cost Rs. 6 crore. Jammu and Kashmir government is focusing on promoting border tourism to attract more visitors to the state. Since, Jammu has come up as a major tourist destination in the recent years and in order to give a boost to it, infrastructure worth Rs 6 crore would be set up in Suchetgarh, the official said. As per the project projected for sanctioning, the projects include the development of a park spread over 150 kanals, entry gate, a tourist facilitation centre, the landscaping and development of a terrace garden with fountains, the development of a walkway to oversee the international border, a watch tower, a war memorial with a photo gallery of war heroes of the area, the construction of an amphitheatre and other tourism-related infrastructure. Besides the Suchetgarh model village and the octroi border outpost, the state government will also conduct circuital border trips to prominent sites like shrines and temples close to the Zero Line and picnic spots. It is pertinent to mention that at the present time a number of more than 200 tourists visits the border area daily, the number observe an impressive increase in the weekends. As the authorities initiated to develop these locations for tourist there are apprehensions that the figure of visitors will be change positively. If everything goes as planned, the work on the said project will start within a period of month, Mehta said.