Plan to promote Khatkar Kalan as tourist destination

Nawanshahr, April 28

In a bid to promote Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, onto the global stage, the district administration would identify 10 farmhouses under farm tourism scheme where people would be able stay and pay tributes to martyr besides having glimpse of rural Punjab.

Fillip to tourism in Sultanpur Lodhi

• Kapurthala DC Vishesh Sarangal has asked the departmental officers concerned to expedite the work of various ongoing projects of Smart City Sultanpur Lodhi so as to give a further impetus to the religious tourism at Guru Ki Nagri. The DC on Thursday reviewed the setting up of sewage treatment plants, solar energy projects by PEDA, smart schools, Integrated Command Control Centre, beautification of the banks of Holy Bein besides four-laning of roads connecting Sultanpur Lodhi to Kapurthala via RCF and Mundi Morh.

Chairing a meeting with officials and tourism department, the DC said the administration would nominate Khatkar Kalan village for the Best Village Award category by United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

He said under farm tourism village of the state government, 10 farmhouses adjoining or amidst agricultural land would be identified within next week where visitors would be provided home cooked food, comfortable accommodation, hygienic clean environment and would have glimpse of rural Punjab at a minimal cost.

The visitors would be taken to fields, tubewells in the village and detailed about the historical importance of village by taking them to ancestral house of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh, museum and memorial complex, he said.

Randhawa directed the officials to identify the farmhouses and enrol under the scheme. He said adequate publicity of the farmhouses would be carried out among the masses to boost the tourism.

The DC further asked the Rural Development and Panchayat Department and the Banga MC to start cleanliness drive in the pond, parks and other parts of Khatkar Kalan and carry out plantation drive. He also asked them to ensure proper awareness drive among the people against the plastic to make it plastic-free village.