Himachal Govt. seeks to promote village tourism under NREGA

SHIMLA - In a bid to revive traditional culture of hill villages and promote them as tourist spots, Himachal Pradesh is promoting tourism under the Central Government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme.

According to Himachal Pradesh Government’s tourism department, after successful implementation of ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai’ (every house speaks something) programme, under which the department had compiled a list of historical buildings for tourism, it has come up with another scheme called ‘Har Gaon Ki Kahani’ (the story of every village).

Under the ‘Har Gaon Ki Kahani’ scheme, the tourism department has asked villagers to come up with popular stories related to their villages which could help in attracting tourists to their villages while giving fillip to tourism in rural areas.

The scheme is expected to generate employment opportunities for the local youth , as Shimla and many towns of Himachal Pradesh are known for their folktales and local legends.

“With the passage of time, people have started forgetting what kind of Shimla it used to be. It had been a royal destination developed by the Britishers, full of legends, folklores, and this is the history, which passes on from generation to generation ” said Arun Sharma, Director of Tourism Department, Himachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a 10-day training is being imparted to the local youth to work as as guides for tourists visitng their villagess.

“It will be a good opportunity for us in terms of employment, for getting self-employed. Secondly, if we look from the tourism point of view, we would be lucky enough to know about the hidden cultures of some of the villages. Through this, not only other people would know about our culture, but there would be greater inflow of tourists in Himachal (Pradesh),” said Punit, a tourist guide

The concept of village tourism seeks to use village houses as guest houses. (ANI)