Govt is willing to increase ASI protected monuments in Ladakh to 3-fold: Tourism Minister

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Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (Independent charge), Shri Prahlad Singh Patel said on September 5, 2019 said that the Ministry is willing to increase the monuments, under Archeological Survey of India (ASI) protection in Ladakh, to double or triple fold.

“There are several many unknown yet important monuments available in Leh and Kargil regions which can be protected by ASI,” he added.

Right now, Ladakh region has only 14 monuments under ASI protection.

The Minister is on a three-day tour of Leh from September 3-5, 2019. On the third day, he held meetings with all local stakeholders related to tourism sector in Ladakh. DG tourism Meenakshi Sharma; ADG tourism Rupinder Brar; Principal Secretary – Tourism (J&K), Naveen Kumar Chaudhry and senior officers of Ministry of tourism and Officials of local bodies were present in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minster announced that the Ministry of Tourism will provide full support to the local administration in preparing a new Tourism Policy for Ladakh.

He also assured them that if needed, the Ministry people will visit every month to Ladakh to provide their support and help regarding this matter.

In the meeting, the local stakeholders appreciated Minister’s initiative to visit Ladakh and hold fruitful meetings. They demanded support of Government of India in various matters like better connectivity, better infrastructure, rebate in taxation to boost tourism industry, to promote village tourism and adventure tourism among others.

The Minister assured them that the Ministry and Government of India have taken their demands positively and full support will be provided to Ladakh to enable quality tourism in order to make it one of the best tourist destinations in the world.

The meeting started with a presentation, given by Vikas Rustagi, Joint Director General, Ministry of Tourism, regarding roadmap to boost tourism in Ladakh region. In the presentation, it was showcased that Ladakh has great potential to attract tourists from across the globe and there is a need to capitalise the opportunity with better planning.