Guidelines were issued regarding the integration of marketing and operations of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam in the 19th board meeting of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) presided over by Tourism and Culture Minister Satpal Maharaj on Thursday. Instructions were also given to bring about a swift rise in the number of home-stays in the State.

The board meeting was held with the permission of the election commission in view of the model code of conduct for the Panchayat elections. After the meeting, the UTDB chief executive officer Dilip Jawalkar informed that approval was granted for tenders for the Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway, construction of parking at Anandvan Samadhi in Haridwar and selection of technical advisers for developing international convention centre and wellness city at IDPL. In addition to this, approval was also granted for building the Janakichatti-Yamunotri ropeway as per new alignment under PPP mode through private investor.

The Rs 35 crore Budget approved by the government for financial year 2019-20 was also allocated for various heads. Details of Rs 3.84 crore deposited by various sections of the council to the tourism fund were also presented in the meeting. Issues including tourism policy, river rafting, kayaking and aerosports manuals were also deliberated upon in the meeting.

Further, approval was granted for fencing to prevent encroachment on departmental lands, appointment of guard in office and fixing solar lights instead of defective electric lights. Principal secretary of forests, Anand Bardhan, tourism additional secretary Sonika, GMVN managing director Iva Shrivastava and KMVN managing director Rohit Meena were also among those present in the meeting.