Looking for an adventure getaway close to the city and yet in the lap of nature?

Jharkhand state tourism department is planning year-round thrills with permanent adventure sports facilities at scenic Getalsud in Ranchi, Chandil (in Seraikela-Kharsawan district, close to Jamshedpur) and Netarhat (Latehar district, easily reachable from Ranchi and Daltonganj).

This proposal comes close on the heels of the department entrusting Pune’s Adventure World with installing, operating and maintaining adventure sports at three sites — Jonha, Hundru and Panchghagh — all waterfalls at a driving distance from the capital.

State tourism director Sanjeev Kumar Besra said these six places were “beautiful round the year”.

“Work to install the facilities near three waterfalls is on. This apart, we are looking at fresh bids for Getalsud, Chandil and Netarhat. We want these adventure sports facilities to be ready for tourists post-monsoon by September-end,” Besra added.

Getalsud Dam, 35km from Ranchi, offers a stunning view; Chandil Dam, nearly 40km from Jamshedpur in Seraikela-Kharsawan district, is the meeting point of Karkori and Subernarekha rivers, while Netarhat in Latehar has eternal beauties such as Magnolia Point famed for its sunsets and several waterfalls.

The tourism department will select a private firm to install, operate and maintain the adventure sports equipment at Getalsud, Chandil and Netarhat for five years. The tender process was likely to be over next month, Besra said earlier this month.

On adventure sports infrastructure coming up at tourist hotspots in Hundru and Jonha, 40km from Ranchi, and Panchghagh, some 55km away from the capital in Khunti district, a tourism official said these included cables, ropes, beams and bolts on trees and utility poles for low and high rope courses, a zipline (aerial runway) or pulley suspended on a cable so that a person slides in an incline, as well as ladders, walls, tunnels, ski boards, among others.

The installations at Getalsud, Chandil and Netarhat are expected to be on similar lines.

On the financial aspect of the whole show, a senior official of Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation said the installation of adventure sports facilities would be permanent, private agencies concerned would operate and maintain them for five years and give a small percentage of earnings to the tourism department.

He added the plan materialised when short-term adventure sports camps organised by the tourism department between January and mid-February at Netarhat Lake, Betla, Kanke Dam, Chandil Dam and Patratu Dam, proved to be a grand success.

“That’s when we started thinking, why not permanent facilities in our state for adventure lovers? And soon, they would be ready at six places in Jharkhand,” the tourism official said.