Focus to be on wellness as Uttarakhand looks to reboot tourism sector

New schemes with an emphasis on wellness will be launched in the tourism sector in Uttarakhand to help it overcome the setback caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said on Wednesday.  The schemes will be attractive for tourists besides generating employment for locals and migrant labourers, who have returned in large numbers from outside the state after the outbreak of the pandemic, he said in an interaction with the media here through Skype. "We are considering a number of new schemes for the tourism sector to revive it. The emphasis is on the wellness sector," he said.

Rawat also mentioned the Mukhya Mantri Swarojgar Yojana launched recently to provide self-employment opportunities to enterprising youths and migrants besides making agriculture a viable occupation for the rural populace. On the rising cases of COVID-19 in the state which have crossed the one thousand mark, Rawat said the state's preparedness to deal with the challenge has also grown.

"When the pandemic broke out some months back, we had no isolation facilities but today we have nearly 15,000 isolation beds," he said, adding testing facilities have also been ramped up considerably. Rawat also said the existing facilities will be further upgraded as the situation demands as per the ICMR guidelines.           The chief minister also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the first anniversary of his second term in office, saying many historic decisions were taken during the period.

Listing important decisions taken during Modi's second term, he spoke of abrogation of Article 370, ban on triple talaq, the Citizenship Amendment Act and paving the way for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya without letting any communal tension break out in its wake. "These are results of the prime minister's strong leadership and the remaining four years of his second tenure are set to lead to even bigger achievements like 'har ghar jal' and 'ek desh ek ration card'," he said.

Rawat also praised Modi for adopting the right strategy in the country's fight against COVID-19, saying the steps taken by him have gone a long way in containing spread of the pandemic and saving lakhs of lives. The Uttarakhand chief minister thanked Modi for  the comprehensive package for farmers, the pension scheme for small traders and domestic help.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)