Jammu, October 26 (Scoop News)- Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand, today said that concerted efforts are being made by the government to exploit the wide-ranging tourism potential of Jammu region.
The Minister was addressing a huge gathering after flagging off a cultural rally of students drawn from various schools of Jammu city here at Mubarak Mandi complex as part of three day long Duggar festival organized by Duggar Vikas Manch.
The event has been organized by the Manch to highlight the rich Dogra culture and heritage, besides commemorating the accession of the Jammu and Kashmir state with union of India.
MLAs Ashok Khajuria, Ashwani Sharma, former Mayor Narinder Singh, CEO, Jammu T.L. Mulnivasi, President of the Manch Daneshwar Singh, prominent citizens, members of civil society and scores of school children attended the event.
Calling for exploiting tourism potential of the region to its fullest, Tara Chand said need of the hour is to promote heritage tourism and to take the visiting tourists beyond Katra. He said mega-projects have been launched to upgrade tourism infrastructure in places like Shiv-Khori, Budha Amarnath and other such places of tourist interests and all out efforts have been afoot to bring the region up on tourism map.
He said prestigious projects like Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex, Artificial Lake and Cable Car projects have been undertaken to add to the tourist attraction of the city.
“Dogra land has a rich cultural history and the same needs to be preserved for the next generation and attract the tourists,” he stressed. Remembering father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, the Deputy Chief Minister said the nation is indebted to the great leader who fought against the British and won freedom without fighting any war, adding that path of non-violence shown by the Mahatma is being followed all over the world for peacefully settling mutual differences.
He said with the efforts of great visionary leaders of India hundreds of smaller states were united under one flag and the state of J&K also become a part of the dominion.
“Our nation is one among the mighty powers of the world and in these years we have achieved greater heights in the areas of education, science, power, IT, computers, agriculture and other such fields,” he added.
Stressing on promoting regional languages and culture, Tara Chand said besides English due care should be taken to preserve and encourage local dialects of the three regions of the state. He said Dogri, Kashmiri, Pahari, Ladakhi, Gojri and other local cultures are unique in their own way and the state has fragrance of these composite cultures in it, adding that all out efforts need to be made to ensure that the coming generations are well aware of their rich culture and heritage.
Appreciating the efforts of the students, the Deputy Chief Minister announced a cash prize of Rupees Fifty Thousand for the participating students.
On the occasion, the participating students from government and private education institutions of the city presented a scintillating cultural programme.