State pitches for adventure tourism

Adrenaline Rush

Ranchi, Nov 3: In a bid to promote adventure tourism in the tribal heartland, the state tourism department is planning to set up adven- ture tourism institutes in five districts of the state, in Ranchi, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad and Jam- shedpur, once the forth- coming Assembly polls are over.

The Jharkhand Adventure Tourism Institute (JATI) will be a nodal state-level body which will impart training in and promote water and aero sports. The tourism department is also moving ahead with its plan to train local youths in the districts which have potential for adventure tourism.

Once the institutes are in place with the required facilities, the department will offer training courses in adventure sports like scuba diving, rafting, canoeing, sailing, kayaking, para-gliding, para-sailing, mountaineering, trekking and jungle safaris.

“After finalising plans for JATI early this year we advertised for people necessary to run the institute and also worked on the syllabus,” director tourism, Bimal Choudhary, said.

Choudhary added that after setting up district chapters in five places, the department planned to start similar institutes in other districts too as there is ample scope for adventure tourism in the tribal heartland.

So far the department has identified 15 spots to initiate adventure tourism in the state including Dimna Lake, Kanke dam, Tillaiyya dam, Tenughat, Betla, Rukka dam among others. It is also in the process of identifying other po-tential adventure spots.

The institute would not only provide adventure tourism services to visitors but also employment opportunities for local youths. “Once the instructor trains from the institute, he can get a job in any part of the country,” Choudhary said.

To monitor the entire plan two special sub-committees have been set up.

“The first committee will be responsible for setting up the entire office while the other will identify more spots,” the director said.

Adventure tourism has huge potential in the five districts chosen for promotion in the first phase.

For instance, Giridih is home to a number of tourist attractions like Parasnath Hills, Usri Falls, Harihar Dham, Madhuban and Khandoli.

Other districts too provide ample scope for adventure tourism be it in Ranchi with its Kanke dam and Rukka dam and Jamshedpur with its popular Dimna Lake.