Nubra valley to get tourism development authority

Turtuk (Leh), December 24

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Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today announced setting up of a tourism development authority for the Nubra valley. She said Rs 17 crore are being spent on tourism development in the area.

Addressing a public meeting here after inaugurating a bridge in Thang village, the Chief Minister said the nature had bestowed the Nubra-Turtuk valley with immense tourism potential and need of the hour was to exploit it to the optimum. She said the government had already started various tourism development projects in the Nubra valley and with the setting up of the authority these projects would get a focused attention.

Mehbooba said a cultural institute would be set up at Turtuk for the promotion and preservation of local culture, music and language. Similarly, she said an interpretation centre would be set up for the information and guidance of the tourists visiting the area. Residential accommodation for tourists would be provided and infrastructure would be strenghtened, she said.

Mehbooba said she was aware of the problems of the people of the area and efforts would be made to redress them. She said a survey on the Turtuk-Haanu road would be conducted and once constructed the road would minimise the distance between Nubra and Kashmir considerably.

She said the case of opening of the Turtuk-Khapaloo route would be taken up to let the people of the area meet their relatives living across the LoC as had previously been done in case of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and the Poonch-Rawlakote routes. — TNS