SRINAGAR: The tourism sector in Jammu and Kashmir is set to undergo a sea change with various tourist destinations in both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir getting helicopter services in very near future. In a move meant to cater to high end tourism in the UT, the government has also decided to launch Air Safari and Air rides over certain tourist locations including a ride over Dal Lake and adjoining areas.
This was revealed during a meeting at Civil Secretariat here chaired by Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan. The meeting was attended by Commissioner Civil Aviation, Secretary Tourism, Managing Director JKTDC, Director Tourism Kashmir and Director Finance Civil Aviation.
While chairing the meeting, Advisor said that the move will boost tourism in Jammu and Kashmir and add interesting experience to the visit of tourists. He added that the department is looking at helicopter services to build connectivity between important destinations and attract more visitors. Advisor directed the officers to identify a few tourist destinations from both Jammu as well as Kashmir so that helicopter services could be started on pilot basis. Many places came up under discussion for introduction of helicopter services from both the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir.
Advisor directed the officers to do proper groundwork regarding the basic infrastructure and manpower required for the purpose. The Advisor directed the Directors of Jammu and Kashmir to come up with the location details including other details for helicopter services.
Advisor said that the whole exercise is meant to change the façade of travel and tourism in Jammu and Kashmir and will open up new tourist destinations at far flung places. The Advisor said that the directions in this regard have already been given by the Lieutenant Governor for mapping out the tourist destinations for pressing in the Helicopter services.
Covid vaccination
Despite significant improvement in the COVID condition of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Friday advised citizens of Union Territory to abide by the SoPs. The Lieutenant Governor chaired series of high-level meetings with members of the COVID Task Force, Deputy Commissioners, and SPs on COVID Containment efforts of the J&K Administration. During the meeting, LT Sinha added that the valley region is doing much better than other states in terms of controlling the COVID spread.
The health officials in the state have been directed to focus on the blocks with a high positivity rate with increased testing & COVID containment measures to contain the spread of the virus. Additional steps have been announced by the valley official that the health authorities are requested to follow.
On a positive note, the Lieutenant Governor expressed satisfaction as 8 districts in the valley have 100% vaccination coverage and a few are near saturation. The Lt Governor directed the remaining districts which are lagging behind to adopt a more proactive approach and micro-level planning to meet the targets. According to Lt Governor Sinha, better management of patients and other crucial timely interventions have been witnessed with J&K Government’s greater clinical management capacity.