Meeting with political parties’ reps today
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Jan 20: An 18 member Parliamentarian delegation arrived here today on a study tour and they are meeting all party leaders tomorrow before meeting various officials and stakeholders of tourism, culture and transport.
The members are part of standing committee on tourism, culture and transport. An official said that 13 MPs arrived today and rest will join them tomorrow. He said it is 31 member delegation including 13 officials.
They will review the tourism infrastructure and would meet officials and other stakeholders associated with the sector regarding publicity and promotions in the Valley at the Taj Vivanta hotel where they are staying. Click here to watch video
The delegation would also deliberate Road, Tourism, Travel and Hospitality infrastructure. The rail, air and road connectivity would be an important area of their study and would seek suggestions for its improvement.
The delegation is meeting representatives of various political parties and likely to meet president of National Conference Dr Farooq Abdullah. The meeting with political parties will be held tomorrow morning at Taj.
Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, is also arriving tomorrow and will attend the al party meeting.
The delegation is also meeting National Highway Authority officials and discuss development of National Highways especially Jammu-Srinagar National Highway which for last several years remains mostly closed during winters and rainy season.
The delegation will also visit Gulmarg and spend a night there. They will study the tourism related issues in Kashmir during Gulmarg visit.
On the first day of their tour, they visited Dachigham Wildlife Sanctuary and Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar.
Member Parliament TG Venkatesh and chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee told Excelsior that the delegation is here on study tour.
“We can do a lot of things here; we will see what the concerned departments in these sectors are doing and what needs to be done for the future. We will get an idea what needs to be done and that’s why we are touring”, he said.
“We are here for the work of tourism, national highways, culture, civil aviation, railway safety all these things fall in our mandate”, he said.
Venkatesh said that Tourism is very important in that way when “we talk about Kashmir”. “We have seen people rushing to Switzerland for vacations. But, what is there is all available here, and the only thing that needs to be done is developing it in Kashmir. Nothing else”, he added.
He said that Kashmir has everything and the place needs to be developed on modern lines. “Everything is here in Kashmir. Everything is possible here and the tourists can really enjoy here if these places are developed on modern lines. We need to develop these things here as these are available in Kashmir only”, he said.
“We are 20 members who are on the visit here. We will go to Pahalgam, Gulmarg. Our focus is the development of these sectors-a future plan about it”, he said.
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