320 new eco-tourism sites by 2022, say forest department officials
Apr 24, 2018, 09:20 IST
PUNE: Shivneri fort, Tamhini sanctuary and Khandoba temple at Jejuri near Pune are among the 320 eco-tourism sites that will be ready with lodging, sanitation, and other facilities by 2022, senior forest department and eco-tourism development officials said on Monday.
The facilities will be owned and operated locally with guidelines from the state.
At a workshop held on the forest department premises here, self-help groups, NGOs, and tour operators presented plans on owning and operating such facilities. The presentation focused on sites in western Maharashtra — both newly identified and existing ones. The identified sites are forts, wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves, religious places and eco-parks.
“Our approach is two-fold. We want to protect the eco-system and also want to provide gainful employment to local communities living around those sites. That is why we are emphasising that these facilities be owned by self-help groups and NGOs,” said Sunil Limaye, additional chief conservator of forests (wildlife).
Limaye, who also holds charge of managing director of the Maharashtra Eco-Tourism Development Board (MEDB), said that a number of such sites are already being developed.
To popularise eco-tourism among youngsters, MEDB officials said a pilot scheme in operation in four districts of Vidarbha region, involving children from Zilla Parishad schools and ashram-shalas, will be expanded all across the state. “We piloted a programme called Nisarg Anubhav among students in ZP and resident schools in Chandrapur, Nagpur, Gondia, and Gadchhiroli, where around 2,000 students were taken in batches to experience the eco-system in some of these communities. We now plan to expand it across the state to 80,000 students,” said Kishor Mishrikotkar, divisional forest officer, MEDB.
Source : Times of India
