Tourism Department all set to promote adventure tourism in Jammu Division

Jammu: Jammu Region offers number of adventure activities may it be the foothills of Jammu, the magnificent mountains and unexplored terrains of Kishtwar, the alpine lakes of Rajouri-Poonch or the serene meadows of Bhaderwah and Patnitop.

To explore and map the adventure potential of the region a meeting of advisory committee constituted was held on Friday under the Chairmanship of Dr Naseem Javaid Chowdhary, Director Tourism Jammu to finalize the modalities including mapping and identification of new potential areas, besides promotion of already notified areas as per J&K Tourism Policy issued vide Govt Order No.133-JK(TSM) of 2020 dated 17.12.2020.

The meeting was attended by experts from different fields physically and from reputed National Institutes all over India including Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering, Gulmarg, Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports, Pahalgam, National Institute of water Sports, Goa, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior and Paragliding Association of India through Google meet.

It was decided by the experts that before start of any adventure activity, the safety measures, insurance of the participants/adventure enthusiast, quality equipment, trained staff, sustainability of the activities and involvement/training of local youth must be ensured.

This meeting is the first step towards bringing together three important things which are the very essentials of adventure- The Technical aspect including national/international reputed institutes along with their capacity building programIntangible aspect of adventure tourism and supporting pillars in form of promotional offers.

Jammu is already famous throughout India as a pilgrimage destination, however, the adventure potential of the region is still to be explored. As such, the meeting deliberated upon reccee of already notified spots in the field of trekking, rafting, hiking, paragliding, parasailing camping, Zipline, skiing etc by qualified experts. The committee also charted out a detailed plan which includes mapping of potential areas by concerned CEO’s and AD’s of respective regions, followed by trials and feasibility by experts which will be invited from national/reputed Institutions/Associations to finalise the future course of action.

Some heritage treks were approved by the committee including Mansar to Mahoregarh, Mansar to Deragarh,Jio Pota to Ambaran, Akhnoor , Mansar to Babore Temples, Manwal etc.The committee also approved trekking routes fromSanasar to Shankhpal, Jammu to Pehad Devta, Loran to Nandishool, Rajouri-Darhal-Budh Khanari-Shakkarmarg. Etc. The committee also approved MTB Routes from Mansar to Surinsar, Bani -Basohli -Bhaderwah- Jai Valley , Atal Setu Bridge to Purthu and bike routes from Bhaderwah-Jai Valley- Gandoh- Bhallessa via BhajDhar Thathri – Pul Doda- Bhaderwah and Kathua-Bani – Basohli-Bhaderwah-Gandoh via Bhajdhar-Thatri-Kishtwar-Paddar-back to Bhaderwah via Puldoda. The committee also agreed to work with allied departments over development of camping sites at Sanasar,Padri and Purthu. The committee also agreed to work up modalities with concerned allied agencies for issuance of one time NOC for the adventure activity.

The committee also deliberated upon adding new adventure sports in the already notified Tourism policy which include parasailing, Paramotor, BASE Jumping etc

The meeting was attended by Prof. Alok Sharma, Director, Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering ,Gulmarg, Col. J.S Dhillon, Consultant, IISM Gulmarg, Dr. Rajinder Khajuria CEO BDA, Anil Kumar Chandail ,Dy Director Tourism Jammu, Umesh Shan, ADT Batote, Ambika Bali ,ADT Katra, Sheena Sahni, ADT Jammu, Robin Singh Mehta, Chairman Jammu Adventure Sports Association, Durga Nath Raina, representative Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports,Pahalgam, Mr Raghav , Paragliding Association of India, Ranjeet Singh, Manager, National Institute of Water Sports,Goa, Kamal Singh OberhGroup Captain (Retd.), Camping, Parasailing, Sky Diving, Base Jumping expert, Dr. Ravinder Dogra, representative of IITTM Gwalior, Sanjay Singh Sambyal, Rafting Expert, from Jammu Adventure Sports Association, Manik Salathia, Mountaineering Expert from Tawi Trekkers, Ehsan Bandey, representative of rafting association of Kashmir.