Govt to ensure renovation of heritage temples: Baloria
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 20: Former Minister, Priya Sethi today said that religious tourism has a great potential in Jammu and Kashmir and it was one of the major contributors to the Union Territory’s economy.
The former Minister was speaking during the cleanliness drive held in connection with fortnight celebrations with regard to the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A from the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State.
The former Minister said “religious shrines constitute rich wealth of our cultural heritage. Jammu is known as the City of Temples. Well-ornamented old temples can be seen in the Jammu city. But surprisingly lack of proper maintenance and conservation of temples in the Jammu city has made these temples dilapidated. These jewels of our architectural heritage need proper repairing and maintenance so that they can also be developed as religious tourism destinations”, she added.
“Jammu region has bountiful places of Gods and deities. It has a vast variety of tourist attraction places having a great potential pilgrimage as well as site seeing tourism and these places need to be exploited for the tourism.
Recommending expansion of facilities for pilgrims and promoting infrastructure projects to enhance connectivity within the different regions of J&K, she said a focused strategy and initiatives were required to fully exploit the tourism potential in the Union Territory. She also appealed the Government to carry out restoration work on temples that are in bad shape and require upkeep. She further appealed to the authorities concerned to make a list of all the places that can be developed for the purpose of religious tourism.
Baldev Baloria, Chairman Health & Sanitation Committee JMC said that renovation of the temples became possible with Government support. “We would ensure that all such old temples, which are in a dilapidated condition, are renovated at the earliest with people’s cooperation”, he said. He asserted that contributing to the temples renovation was part of the process of nation and society building. He also asked people to shun the use of plastic, especially in temple premises, to avoid littering.
Among others who were present included Mandal president, Parveen Kerni, Satpal Rathore, Rajinder Sika, Savita Anand and officials from the Jammu Municipal Corporation.
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