MANTALAI, June 2:
Surrounded by Deodar trees, lush green forests, this scenic place is not less than a ‘heaven on earth’ and soon will be a hub of tourists including the foreigners as it is coming up as state-of-the-art international Yoga centre-a part of the previous NDA Government’s ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme launched to develop potential tourist spots in the country.
The centre is coming up over sprawling 125 acre Ashram of late Swami Dhirendra Brahmchari.
Situated in Chenani Block of Udhampur district in Jammu region, the beautiful Mantalai is around 28-kilometres from the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
With the aim to give fillip to the tourism sector, International Yoga Centre is coming up at Mantalai as part of the ‘integrated development of tourist facilities’ project at Mantalai-Sudhmahadev-Patnitop circuit, an official added.
Central minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who has been re-elected as Member Parliament from Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary Constituency, in his first term, had got sanctioned an amount of Rs 80 crore to establish the Yoga centre.
Work on the project had commenced in 2017 as part of Government’s initiative to develop Jammu as a tourist destination and was conceived to attract domestic and foreign tourists.
The contract was awarded to National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCCL) for development of the Yoga centre and allied infrastructure at Mantalai, Patnitop and Sudhmaha Dev.
“An amount of Rs 80-crore was sanctioned for creating International Yoga centre at Mantalai when this project was taken up and more will be provided so that the project gets completed in scheduled time,” Dr Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO said.
He added that once Mantalai has the infrastructure and facility of international level, it will automatically come on the global tourist map.
“Facilities like swimming pool, airstrips, spa, helipads, gymnasium, auditorium, hostels and business convention centre are coming up at the International Yoga Centre,” he said, adding that the project also included cafeteria at Sudhmaha Dev and Patnitop.
Director Tourism, Jammu, OP Bhagat, said, “there are reports that a team from the Government of India has recently visited the spot for physical verification and the deadline fixed for the project in October-November this year.”
“The facility will boost leisure and health tourism,” he said, adding that under the Prime Minister’s Development Programme (PMDP) Rs 82.17-crore were sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, for the Yoga Centre at Mantalai, the work on which is nearing completion.
The ashram earlier housed airstrip, helipad, swimming pool, zoo, stud farms, cow shelters, orchards and forests but after Swami Dhirendra Brahmchari’s death in the air crash in 1994, it was shut. Now, after prolonged legal battle, the Ashram has been taken over by the Jammu & Kashmir Government. (UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
