Government making efforts to increase tourist footfall in Kufri: Anirudh

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh today said that the state government was working to provide all facilities and attract more tourists to Kufri, an internationally known tourist destination near Shimla. He was on a visit to Koti and Darbhog gram panchayats in the Kasumpti Assembly constituency of Shimla district.

The minister said that people living in and around Kufri were mostly self-employed in the tourism sector, providing services such as horse-riding to visitors. He added that through their hard work, these people were strengthening their economic condition.

The minister said that around Rs 51.78 crore was being spent on the construction of the Kufri-Janedghat-Chail link road, which was important from tourism point of view. “The tender process has been completed and the road construction work will be initiated as soon as tenders are floated,” he added.

Anirudh laid the foundation stone of various projects for Koti and Darbhog panchayats, including the widening and metalling of the Koti-Moi-Jubbar link road at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, Choukharia-Dhar-Karewdi road at Rs 40 lakh and the Bharariya-Bhaila and Jatol-Naneya link roads. He also inaugurated the Darbhog panchayat building built at a cost of Rs 1.14 crore.

He said that during a visit to Kasumpti last year, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had announced Rs 4.50 crore for various projects in the region and the work on these was underway. He added that the

The Congress government had sanctioned Rs 45 lakh for small development works in Koti panchayat and Rs 68 lakh for Darbhog panchayat.

He said that a new panchayat community centre equipped with modern facilities would be built at a central location in Koti at a cost of Rs 1.14 crore. He added that the process of completing all formalities, including the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) clearances, for the construction, widening and paving of 18 roads in the two panchayats was underway. He appealed to the villagers to provide gift deeds soon so that all villages in the area could be connected by road.

He added that efforts would be made to start B.Ed classes at Government College, Chail-Koti, from the next academic session.