In Uttarakhand, PM bats for year-round tourism

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said tourism should not have an off-season and should instead be a year-round activity.

Addressing the Winter Tourism Programme of the BJP-led Uttarakhand government at Harsil, a popular tourist village in Uttarkashi district, the PM said the government had revived Mana and Jadung, both villages abandoned after the Indo-China war of 1962 by making them the first villages under the Vibrant Village Programme.

Manna is the last village on the Indo-Tibet border and was just hit by an avalanche.

After offering prayers at the winter seat of Maa Ganga in Mukhwa, PM Modi addressed a public gathering in Harsil, where he suggested promoting “gham tapo” (sunbathing) tourism in the hills.

Recalling his visit to Baba Kedarnath, where he had declared that, “this decade would be the decade of Uttarakhand”, PM said the new projects would boost local prosperity.

Modi said winter tourism would boost Uttarakhand’s economic potential.