OYO signs MoU with Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board

The partnership is geared to develop tourism-related hospitality ecosystem in the state. OYO will leverage its expertise in transforming and standardizing hospitality real estate units and make local homestays better equipped to suit the need of visitors and tourists.

article source: Indiainfoline July 05, 2016

India’s largest branded network of hotels, OYO, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB).  The partnership is geared to develop tourism-related hospitality ecosystem in the state. OYO will leverage its expertise in transforming and standardizing hospitality real-estate units and make local homestays better equipped to suit the need of visitors and tourists. In first phase of this alliance, OYO has already standardized 15 homestays registered with UTDB. The standardization process, will be followed by listing and marketing these properties on OYO’s well-established channels.
 
Commenting on this development, Abhinav Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, OYO said, “We are very proud to partner the efforts of the Uttarakhand Government in building a tourism-friendly infrastructure while sustaining local communities. The pace of our efforts is aligned towards ensuring that while infrastructure is upgraded and standardized, the local ecosystem is not disrupted. OYO has built deep expertise in standardizing amenities and guest-experience in the unbranded hotels segment. This tie-up gives us the opportunity to transfer these skills and learnings to the state of Uttarakhand.”
 
Shailesh Bagauli, CEO, UTDB said, “Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board is happy to partner with OYO, the leading brand of hotel-networks in the country. We are confident that OYO’s expertise in standardizing and marketing large inventories to customers in different parts of India will drive immense value to this partnership. We look forward to our joint efforts contributing to increased tourist influx and a better stay experience for visitors to Uttarakhand.”
 
Uttarakhand is not only a preferred destination for families and adventure-travellers, but also a focal point for pilgrims on the Char Dham Yatra. OYO-standardized homestays are located in key towns like Dehradun, Nainital, Mussoorie, Haridwar and Haldwani. Unlike typical homestays, these properties are equipped with standardized OYO amenities to provide a predictable experience to visitors. So, visitors can check-in with the assurance of flat-screen TV, free wi-fi and complimentary breakfast as well as CCTV cameras for their security.
 
Using the OYO app, travelers can create bookings in as little as five seconds and three taps. With a large network of 6000 hotels present across 180 cities in India, OYO also enjoys strong supply channels. It will connect homestay owners with vendors and facilitate the procurement of best in quality products at a reasonable price, making the standardization process more cost-effective.
 
OYO works in close collaboration with the government and industry bodies towards skills-and capacity-building in the hospitality sector. It has previously collaborated with tourism development corporations of Telangana and Kerala, as well as the Government of Andhra Pradesh and CII’s Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council for skilling of hospitality staff.

3 years after the Uttarakhand disaster, Valley of Flowers re-opens for tourists

The long wait is finally over--you can once again travel to the beautiful Valley of Flowers.

article source: India Today - June 02, 2016 

After a wait of three long years since the devastating Uttarakhand floods, the Valley of Flowers has been re-opened for tourists on Wednesday.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the popular destination will remain open till the month of October and is expected to attract hordes of tourists this year.

Located at an altitude of 12,000 feet and spread across an area of 87.5 square kilometres, the place attracts travellers from all parts of the world because of its unparalleled natural beauty. The place has around 300 different species of endemic alpine flowers including rare flowers like potentilla, geranium, anemone, lily and the blue Himalayan poppy in full bloom--making for an amazing spectacle for nature lovers.

Following the disaster of 2013, the valley became inaccessible for the next few years and hardly got any visitors for the next few years. But according to Nanda Devi National Park divisional forest officer Chandra Shekhar Joshi, the destination is expected is get a lot more tourists as compared to the previous years.

Two hoteliers from the local town Ghangaria told Hindustan Times that the tourist rush is set to be so high this time that it would make up for the losses they have faced in the last three years. Besides, it will also prove beneficial for the livelihood of the local porters, dhaba owners, horse owners and guides.

Ministry of Tourism Formulates Action Plan for Incredible India Bed & Breakfast /Home Stay Scheme

M/o Tourism Formulates Action Plan for Incredible India Bed & Breakfast /Home Stay Scheme

article source: Press Information Bureau - June 01, 2016

Ministry of Tourism has formulated an Action Plan for “Incredible India Bed & Breakfast /Home Stay Scheme”. The salient features of the Action Plan are as follows:- 

1. As Home Stay / Bed & Breakfast is the need of the hour, it was decided to revisit the scheme guidelines and update it based on present and future requirements. 

2. To ensure expansion of Home Stay Scheme in State where it is already prevalent and introduction where it is not there. 

3. Move towards ease of doing business through rationalization of taxes, simplification of procedures etc. 

4. Launch an aggressive marketing strategy to enlist more B&B Establishments. 5. Involve online travel agents in promoting this scheme and bring it on the fast-track. 

6. Groups were constituted to study various aspects of this scheme and submit recommendations in a time bound manner. 

The Ministry of Tourism organised a Workshop on Incredible India Bed & Breakfast /Home Stay Scheme here on 30th May 2016. It was chaired by Shri Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, M/o Tourism and attended by officials from various State Governments, representatives from Hospitality and Travel Trade Industry, CEOs of online travel agents and officials of the Ministry of Tourism. 

This workshop was conducted with the prime objective of meeting shortage of rooms in accommodation sector – specially the budget category. As construction of hotels has a long gestation period, it was felt that the desired additional hotel capacity can be supplemented substantially by giving impetus to the Incredible India Bed & Breakfast Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism as well as similar schemes run by the State Governments and Online Travel Agents. 

World's largest rooftop solar power plant inaugurated in Punjab

The investment in this sector has steeply gone up from Rs 82 crore in 2012 to Rs 10,000 crore now with an employment potential of 12,500 jobs

World’s largest single rooftop solar power plant of 11.5 Mw capacity was inaugurated in Beas near Amritsar in Punjab on Tuesday. Spread at a single rooftop stretch of 42 acre at Dera Baba Jaimal, the project was synchronised earlier this year.

According to Wikipedia,the Mandalay Bay Resort Convention Centre, Las Vegas in the United States is next biggest solar photovoltic power station in the world having 6.4 megawatts (Mw) capacity. The EPC contractors for the project were Tata Power and Larsen and Toubro.

In addition to single largest rooftop solar power plant, seven rooftop solar power plants of 8Mw capacity were also inaugurated in Beas Dera campus making this place the highest single campus generating solar power of 19.5 Mw at multiple rooftops in the country, informed a senior official from Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA).

Punjab is generating 470 Mw of solar power and with projects of 500 Mw in the pipeline, the state would be able to generate solar power of close to 1,000 Mw by the end of FY 2016-17.

New & Renewable Energy Resources Minister of Punjab Bikram Singh Majithia said this project would generate clean and green energy sufficient to power approximately 8,000 homes. He pointed out that GoI has set a target of power generation of 40,000 Mw from different resources of renewable energy to be achieved by 2022 and this project would be a role model to encourage other states to replicate such large rooftops on the building/sheds.

The investment in this sector has steeply gone up from Rs 82 crore in 2012 to nearly Rs 10,000 crore now with an employment potential of 12,500 jobs, he said. Punjab would achieve a target of 2552 MW of renewable energy generation by 2022, he added.

He said Punjab would achieve a target of 2552 MW of renewable energy generation by 2022.Solar projects have been executed on BOO (built-operate-own) basis and PEDA has entered into 25 year power purchase agreements with the private players.

article source: Business Standard / May 18' 2016

book your holidays !!!

... click here to book your holidays

 >>> book here <<<

Total addressable travel market in India will be $40 billion by 2020: Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder, Airbnb

New Delhi: World's largest marketplace for accommodation Airbnb sees India as a $40 billion travel market by 2020. Airbnb relies on its USP of offering a local experience to guests, different from staying in a hotel, which Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb, described as 'mass produced and commoditised'. The 2008 startup — funded by Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and others — operates in 191countries with a staff of just 2,000. In April, it entered into a strategic partnership with the Times Group, publishers of this paper, to expand its footprint in India and create a local experience. In an interview to ET, Blecharczyk, one of the three co-founders of Airbnb, discussed Airbnb's impact on the market, how it copes with regulatory challenges, and plans to grow. Excerpts...

click here

What does Airbnb cater to? Is it travel, short term stay, or both? How do you define it?

Airbnb is great for any accommodation you want to book up to three months. If you are doing internship over summer, or just travelling as a tourist, you might want to check it out. The average stay at Airbnb property is 4-5 days.

>>>click here for more<<<<<

For 4-5 days, it's a bit of a hassle to go into an unbranded, unknown place. How does that compare with hotel stay?

It's very transparent. Paris is our top city with 70,000 homes on the platform, followed by New York and London. Airbnb is away for visitors to live like locals. You are in a local neighbourhood — you can stay in tree houses, igloos, castles, houseboats, heritage homes, etc. It is a totally different feeling compared to a hotel. Hotel experience is very mass produced, commoditised. But travel is about local experiences and hotel may not be the best option.

The aggregator model has not gone down well with regulators in several countries. Even cab aggregator Uber has had frequent problems. In Berlin and other markets you have faced headwinds. How do you see your business in India?

The Airbnb model has come on to people's radars rather suddenly. Obviously, none of the existing policies contemplated such a thing is possible. Governments are trying to figure out what is this new model. And how should existing rules apply. There's an appreciation that new rules need to be created and when that happens we have seen very favourable rules. In 30 or so cities and countries, favourable home share laws have been passed, like in France, UK, Portugal, Netherlands. Even the India government has a favourable disposition to this. Our stance as a company is to try to have conversations with local authorities. For instance, there are issues like tax that come up. We can add value here. We are already handling money. We do that in many cities. Once we get into these dialogues, it becomes constructive.

The platform has been used in India for some time now. What has been the response?

India is a company priority now. There are 18000 homes in India on Airbnb in 100 cities and that number has grown 115% in the last year, and on the travellers' side, we have seen 185% increase in travellers from India going abroad. We think there's a rising tide here, the market is growing and it's predicted by 2020, the total addressable travel market in India will be $40 billion. We don't grow by giving discounts, but primarily by word of mouth.

How this financial expert turned to religious tourism for passion

A decade or two ago, most travels were either to relatives places or religious trips. Today, the travel bug bites people of different demographics: you have youngsters taking a year off to go backpacking in Europe, women savouring independence and courage on the road without their male counterparts, and those solo travellers, seeking to find themselves as they push their personal boundaries.

However, the dynamics for religious travel hasn’t changed. It has been touted to be an $80 billion market. It is to disseminate information on this very segment that Rachna Gulati started the web platform myholytour in October 2014.

Myholytour brings together content, information and online and offline bookings and customisations of all religious trips and destinations on one platform. Currently, the website displays information of close to 600 religious places across all the religions.

Religion is something that Rachna is unabashedly passionate about. So despite putting in 18 years into working in finance, it was easy enough to answer the calling to take up religious tourism.

Rachna received a REX global fellowship and the Karmaveer Chakra.

Building the brand

During her search, Rachna found FICCI to be very helpful, as it built different religions based circuit. Wanting to build a brand of her own, Rachna decided to tie up with travel agencies like Amadeus and Galileo.

The main hurdle was to build the website as there were not too many people who could do it. The website involved various integrations relating to the APIs, and the web developers asked for hefty amounts.

Rachna spent 20 months networking with unknown people who were well established in the industry and convinced them about her faith in sailing this product. “I nevertheless managed to meet all major players in person and presented the product,” says 41-year-old Rachna.

Rachna found it challenging to get tie-ups and it took her seven months of hard search to find the right blend of people for her company.

The market

Globally, the travel and tourism market is believed to be one of the largest employment generators in the world. It is believed to generate close to 9.4 per cent of the world GDP. The number of players in the online booking and information dissemination space are fast growing.

In fact, myholytour faces most of the competition from well-funded and deeply pocketedplayers like MakeMyTrip, Cox and Kings and even HolidayIQ, which provides information. In fact, according to the different reports by MakeMyTrip, has seen over 30 per cent growth in the segment and the religious travel space is in fact believed to be five per cent of its leisure travel revenue. Not only do these players have deeper pockets, they also have stronger tie-ups and the ability to provide more discounts.

Also, when it comes to booking online, customers would rather prefer to book via a recognised and well-established tour operator. Myholytour also faces stiff competition from other local tour operators like Nirmal Travels, Asian Travels, and Radheshyam Travels.

The company started its operations only early this year after beta testing. Currently bootstrapped, myholytours wants to build a strong brand in the space of religious tourism. The global Alexa ranking of the side is 7,639,497 and gets over 150 page views. The team has also partnered with ixigo for religious tours. According to the team, they have about 1,600 clicks from February to April. While the tours are yet to start, they have had over 100 enquiries since its launch.

“We hope to tie up with the Ministry Tourism and various state tourism boards in terms of quality service in organising religious tours. We want to promote religious destinations that are less known of,” says Rachna.

How Mamta Rawat rescued hundreds of people from the floods that destroyed Uttarakhand

24-year-old Mamta Rawat helped rescue hundreds of people from the 2013 floods which devastated Uttarakhand. More than 5,000 people are presumed to have died in the catastrophe which struck the state. The difficulty did not stop Mamta’s rescue work despite losing her own home in the disaster.

Mamta was at home in her village Bankholi, when she got a call on her mobile phone, saying that a group of school students trekking in the Himalayas were stranded amid torrential rains. A professional mountain guide, Mamta who had grown up around the mountains, was familiar with the terrain. Mamta was able to reach the stranded group quickly and escort them back to safety. However, by the time she returned, floods had begun to engulf the mountainous area and distress calls were coming in thick and fast.

BBC Mamta told BBC that she was flooded with requests to rescue people trapped on various mountains, some 2,500 metres (7,500 feet) above sea level. So that’s exactly what she did, continued to help people in need, despite the fact that her own home had been destroyed, and many of the bridges and roads in the mountains had been washed away.

Col Ajay Kothiyal, principal of the defence ministry-run Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), said that they had asked Mamta to help with the rescue effort. “Mamta even carried an old woman 3km (1.8 miles) up a mountain so that she could be evacuated by helicopter. She also helped construct a makeshift rope bridge to get stranded people cross a river,” he said.

Mamta, a school dropout, is the sole breadwinner of her six-member family. A part-time trainer for the NIM, she supplements her income by working as a mountain guide for trekking groups. Her choice of profession however, came with a lot of criticism, especially from members of her community who felt that a woman should not be doing a “man’s job”. Mamta not only was undeterred by the attitude, she has gone on to train other young women to be mountain guides as well.
source: yourstory .com 27 april 2016

Government works to encourage homestays, promote tourism

New Delhi: Do you have a room to spare? If so, you may soon be able to turn your home into a money-spinner without paying many of the levies at commercial rates or being subjected to stringent licensing norms that are usually associated with business.

The Narendra Modi government is working on relaxing rules to encourage people to offer homestays to tourists, help make up for the massive shortage of 1.9 lakh hotel rooms in the country and get gainfully employed in the true spirit of its 'Start-Up India' programme.

Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi told ET that the tourism ministry is revising its guidelines, and urging states as well, to make it more lucrative for those offering a taste of Indian hospitality and Indian way of life to tourists.

At present, a homestay has to be licensed by the state government, the licence needs an annual or bi-annual renewal and the facility is required to pay service tax and other levies at commercial rates.

The Centre's move follows a presentation by a group of eight secretaries including Zutshi to Prime Minister Modi in January, a copy of which was accessed by ET. The group proposed a big push to homestays as "tourism sector specific interventions".

The group fixed a deadline of March 31, 2019 for integrated development of 50 thematic tourist circuits including "spiritual and yoga, medical and wellness, and cruise tourism" in the country and focus on regional air connectivity. Thirteen thematic circuits, including the Ramayana, Krishna, Buddhist and coastal circuits, are being accorded top priority by the government and are already under development.

The group proposed that homestays not be charged service tax or commercial levies and that their licensing process be made online. "It is proposed that homestays should be exempt from service tax, and various levies like electricity and water charges, and property tax should not be on commercial rates, and the process of certifying these homestays should be hassle-free and online, backed by third-party inspections," Zutshi said.

The ministry is urging state governments to modify their guidelines accordingly, Zutshi said.

"We expect states to come on board as they will benefit from tourist inflow and more employment... we will be publicising homestays," he said.

Source: Economic Times 28 Apr, 2016, 11.02AM IST 

Make a splash this Holi

click on below link to

Make a splash this Holi with Amazon

6 of the most beautiful homestays in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/6-of-the-most-beautiful-homestays-in-uttarakhand-and-himachal-pradesh/1/616586.html

click to shop with AMAZON

Mystic Mountains of Uttarakhand

Jageshwar Shiv sanctuary is one of the most seasoned shiva sanctuary in India.

Jageshwar Dham is situated at a height of 1870 meters. Jageshwar is the eighth Jyotirling among the Twelve and has awesome religious worth.

Jageshwar is a Hindu journey town in Almora District, committed to Lord Shiva, found 36 km upper east of Almora and around 101 Kms far from Nainital in Kumaon Region of Uttarakhand Uttranchal.

The sanctuary city of Jageshwar involves a bunch of 124 extensive and little stone sanctuaries, dating ninth to thirteenth century AD, with numerous protected by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), which incorporate Dandeshwar Temple, Chandi-ka-Temple, Jageshwar Temple, Kuber Temple, Mritunjaya Temple, Nanda Devi or Nau Durga, Nava-grah Temple, a Pyramidal altar, and Surya Temple amongst which the most seasoned place of worship is the ‘Mrityunjaya Temple’ and the greatest sanctum is the ‘Dandeshwar Temple’. Once the focal point of Lakulish Shaivism, in the Jataganga waterway valley close to a Deodar timberland (Cedrus deodara) beginning from Artola town on Almora–Pithoragarh roadway, where two streams Nandini and Surabhi stream down the slopes in the limited valley and meet close to the hallowed spot.

The locals trust that Jageshwar is the spot of Nagesh among the backwoods of Deodar, eighth among the Dwadasa Jyotirlingas: the twelve dazzling lingas of Lord Shiva built up by Lord Vishnu.

The ” Jageshwar Monsoon Festival ‘, held between 15 July to 15 August happens at Jageshwar amid the Hindu date-book month of Shravan, and the yearly ‘Maha Shivratri Mela’ (Shivratri celebration), which happens amid spring has an essential spot in the date-book of the whole Kumaon locale.

The old treatise Prasadmandanam portray Jageshwar as an Abode of Lord Shiva.

There is no clear dating of the development of Jageshwar gathering of sanctuaries yet as indicated by the ASI, they have a place with the post-Gupta and pre-medieval times and are assessed to be around 2500 years of age and one of the most seasoned sanctuary in India. These sanctuaries range in the period from the eighth century (early Katyuri Dynasty to the eighteenth century (Chand Dynasty). The sanctuaries were revamped amid the rule of Katyuri King Shalivahandev. There is an engraving of Malla Kings on the principle sanctuary premises demonstrating their dedication to Jageshwar. The Katyuri Kings additionally gave towns to the sanctuary clerics for it’s support. The Chand Kings of Kumaon were likewise supporters of the Jageshwar sanctuary.

It is trusted that Adi Shankaracharya went by Jageshwar and remodeled and re-set up numerous sanctuaries before leaving for Kedarnath. The Samsan ghat of Jageshwar is likewise the cremation ground of the recent Chand Kings. It is conceivable that sati, the demonstration of self-immolation, might have been performed here. The sanctuaries engineering fit in with the Nagara style, described by a tall bended tower surmounted by an amalaka (capstone) and a kalasha crown. The majority of the sanctuaries cherish a stone lingam, encompassed by stone scultptures of different gods. The journey to Jageshwar was considered as sacrosanct as the well known chardham yatra.

Prior to the development of streets, travelers went through Jageshwar on the way to Kailash and Mansarovar. Because of the confinements on journey to Kailash Mansarovar previously, explorers were occupied towards Kedarnath; be that as it may, this inside has re-achieved its past greatness.

The primary sanctuary in the sanctuary complex at ‘Jageshwar Mahadev’ is devoted to ‘Bal Jageshwar’, or the Child Shiva. There is likewise a sanctuary devoted to Vridh Jageshwar, or Old Shiva, arranged on the higher slants. As indicated by convention, Lord Shiva came to think here, and when the ladies of the town came to know of this, they promptly left their family unit errands to have his darshan. At the point when the men of the town knew about this, they were maddened and came to see who is this sadhu who has enraptured their lady. Seeing the disturbance, Shiva took the type of a tyke, which is the reason he is still venerated in his tyke structure here

Jageshwar Dham is around 91 km. from Soulitude in the Himalayas.

source: Financial Prospect By Deepa Pandey -March 9, 2016

click to open

Soon, sea plane landing on Tehri Lake...

DEHRADUN: Chief minister Harish Rawat on Friday inaugurated the much-awaited Mussoorie Winterline Carnival. The event is being seen as an attempt to boost domestic tourism in the hill state.

Addressing a gathering at the inaugural ceremony, Rawat also announced the launch of sea plane landing on Tehri Lake by the state tourism authorities. The move intends to attract domestic as well as international tourists in large numbers at the destination which is gradually becoming a major tourist attraction after its inauguration.

"We have already made adequate preparations for landing a sea plane on Tehri Lake and will be formally launching it in a couple of days. We hope to provide an impetus to adventure tourism in the state with such attractions," Rawat said.

He also addressed the issue of inadequate supply of drinking water in Dehradun and nearby areas. The CM also announced the launch of a series of projects to boost development activities in the region.
During his visit, Rawat also interacted with hundreds of schoolchildren and distributed sweets among them.
(source: The Times of India / 25 Dec' 2015)

Auli to host ski championship from Feb 10

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand is set to host the National Junior Skiing Championship at Auli Ski Resort in Chamoli district from February 10.

About 200 skiers from across the country are expected to participate in the championship from February 10 to 15 at the snow-laden slopes of Auli.

Roshan Lal Thakur, secretary general, Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) told TOI, "Uttarakhand would be hosting junior and children skiing championship at Auli while Jammu and Kashmir has won the bid to host senior skiing championship at Gulmarg ski resort in the first week of February."

In 2014, Uttarakhand had won the bid to host both senior and junior skiing championship but the organizers refused to host the event claiming that the government was not agreeing to pay the money needed to organize it.

 According to SS Panti, president of Uttarakhand Winter Games Federation, "We have formed an organizing committee headed by Garhwal Commissioner CS Napchiyal for the successful conduct of skiing championship. We have also demanded Rs 40 lakh from the government to organize the event. The government is planning to organize Auli carnival along with the skiing championship."

Three main events would be organized in the junior category while children skiing championship will have two main events.

"The main disciplines will include Super-G, Giant Slalom and Slalom. All the events basically involve skiing between sets of poles (gates) spaced at different distances," Thakur said.

The snow clad slopes of Auli, which are at an altitude of almost 2,500 to 3,000 metres, are usually covered with a thick carpet of snow, about 3 metres deep from January to April.
(source: The Times of India / Dec 22, 2015,)

Saturday, 19 December, 2015, 16 : 00 PM [IST] UP-Uttarakhand govts mull Dehradun-Delhi metro to boost tourism Intra-city metro between Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh also being considered

As per a report by Deep Joshi in Hindustan Times, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh may soon join hands to set up a Metro rail link between Dehradun and Delhi which will boost tourism and cut travel time between the two capitals by half, Rakesh Sharma, Chief Principal Secretary,  Uttarakhand said. Besides the Delhi-Dehradun Metro service, the state has also planned an intra-city metro project which will link the state’s three tourism-intensive cities in the state—Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh. Talks are on with the Uttar Pradesh government in this regard as the proposed Metro railroad will route through a number of UP towns before terminating at Dehradun, he said. All the finer modalities of the plan would be drafted after due consultations on various issues between the two states. The project will not only work as a solution to traffic congestion in both the states but also provide an eco-friendly mode of transport to Delhi, Dehradun and UP travellers, Sharma said. He expressed optimism that the project would help boost tourism traffic among the linked cities.  Both the projects will be handled by a soon-to-be set up Urban Infrastructure and Buildings Corporation, Sharma said, adding that the work on both the projects would start within six months. He said the intra-city project was part of an environment-friendly rapid transport system that will connect the golden triangle (Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar). It would run both underground and overhead, depending upon the factors, like traffic congestion. “The (transport) system could also be modelled on the one being used in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Thailand and Dubai,” he said. The schemes, Sharma said, were being implemented in view of the infrastructural requirements of the proposed centrally-sponsored Smart City project for Dehradun. Referring to the intra-city rapid transport system, he said that two separate corridors would be developed as part of the project. “One of these corridors (besides the metro link) would facilitate road connectivity which would be smoother than what it is at present,” Sharma said. (Source Hindustan Times/ travelbizmonitor.com)