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)