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Eco-tourism park planned at Adasa

The Nagpur forest division is implementing an ambitious Rs5-crore eco-tourism project in temple town of Adasa, 40km from here. The project is expected to open in six months. The project will have a big interpretation centre (Rs1.50 crore), nature trails and park, watch towers, adventure park (Rs1.50 crore) with attractions like vertical ejection tower, zip line, skywalk, wall climbing, and zorbing ball. Entry fee has been tentatively fixed at Rs20 and Rs10. “The project will be run by local joint forest management committee (JFMC) on the lines of Hazara Falls, a tourist attraction in Salekasa in Gondia district,” said deputy conservator of forest (DyCF) Prabhunath Shukla. “Major attraction will be an interpretation centre to be developed by Centre for Environment Education (CEE), an institution working under MoEFCC to enhance environment education. It will revolve round elephants and Lord Ganesha,” said Shukla. The forest department on Monday took up plantation drive by Sunil Kedar, minister of animal husbandry, dairy development, sports and youth welfare, at Adasa. Shukla said the proposed plantations are based on ‘Panchavati’ theme in Nashik wherein trees banyan, peepal, gular (fig), bel and amla together will be planted. These plantations will be under drip irrigation and proposed to have chain-link fencing along with having nature trail, sitting zone etc. A machan is proposed in the park from where visitors can get a glimpse of Lord Ganesha situated in the ‘garbhgriha’ directly. The biodiversity park is one of the components of Adasa eco-tourism plan. Nature interpretation centre has been completed during 2017. Last year, the work of exhibits in nature interpretation costing Rs1.50 core has received administrative sanction under district plan. The interpretation centre will have six rooms dedicated to introduction, behaviour, habitat, distribution of elephant and its conservation issues. The work of exhibits is being planned to be executed through CEE, Ahmedabad. Adasa temple will be connected with biodiversity park. The objective of this project is to provide an alternative tourism site near Nagpur to develop the area as nature education centre and generating livelihood for the local committee.

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Fearing covid, Kodagu orders closure of tourist accommodation in district

The Kodagu administration on Tuesday ordered the closure of all resorts, hotels, and homestays in the district to discourage tourists from flocking to this coffee-growing region popularly known as Coorg, in view of a rise in covid-19 cases in Karnataka. With a sharp surge in cases reported from across the state, the directive appears to be a prelude to the possibility of reimposition of restrictions on inter-district movement. In a notification, Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy has ordered resorts, hotels, and homestays against accepting reservations from people outside the district, state, or country. The order comes a day after the Kodagu reported its first covid-19–related fatality. It now accounts for 78 of the 25,317 cases recorded across Karnataka. Kodagu, about 225 km from Bengaluru, saw a surge in cases along with the rest of Karnataka forcing authorities to clamp down on certain relaxations that allows free movement of people. "The restriction has been put into place over the insistence of locals and association of hospitality operators," C. T. Ravi, Karnataka's minister for tourism. He said the district administration would have taken the decision based on the situation there. Operators of resorts and homestays had earlier appealed to the government to allow partial reopening of services, to help these establishments sustain themselves and make up for piling losses due to the three months of covid-19–induced lockdown. They had even started promoting 'workations', which refers to a form of tourism where people would work while on holiday. This was expected to help bring in some business. Ravi, the tourism minister, said such tourism, though, could trigger a clash between locals and tourists over the fear of spread of covid. He, however, denied the possibility of banning inter-district movement, at least for the time being. The lifting of inter-district movement saw tourists flocking to resorts close to Bengaluru such as those in Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu. But people with travel history to Bengaluru have tested positive in other districts, sparking fears that residents of India's technology capital may be carrying and spreading the virus. Chikkamagaluru, another coffee-growing destination about 250 km from Bengaluru, had also restricted tourists after videos of locals waylaying tourists went viral on social media. Ravi said even operators of resorts and homestays made a plea to the district administration to place a temporary ban on tourists to help contain the possibility of the spread of coronavirus.

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Taj Mahal, other Agra monuments reopening cancelled

Agra monuments to not open today! In view of the increasing number of coronavirus cases, the iconic Taj Mahal and other monuments in the city of Agra will not be opening for tourists from Monday, according to a report in Reuters. The governmental order has been withdrawn as the authorities have expressed concern over the risk of new cases entering the cities with the tourists. The report added that a new order was issued by the city authorities on Sunday, extending the lockdown placed on the monuments in and around Agra. The order has not given a date till when the monuments will remain closed, the report stated. The report cited the order as saying that keeping in view the interest of the public, authorities had decided to keep the monuments closed for now. Monuments all over the country had been closed since March, when the coronavirus spread in India, and the Centre decided to open the historical monuments only from Monday. However, the reopening of these structures was contingent on the compliance of the state as well as district authorities. The report also quoted a district administration official in Agra as saying that the authorities did not expect a cluster of visitors around the historical monument in any case, since the shops and hotels in the area were closed. Meanwhile, the cases of COVID-19 in India are on a steep rise, with the country reporting the highest single-day number of 24,248 cases and nearly 500 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in India to 6.97 lakhs, according to the news agency ANI which cited the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This number pushed India to the third position globally in terms of absolute number of total coronavirus cases, replacing Russia. The government has been opening domestic travel in phases, and with domestic flights being allowed to operate, the government has been hoping that people would visit some of the popular destinations, even as containment zones continue to be under strict lockdown, according to the Reuters report.

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Indian Railways' private trains may provide you preferred seats

New Delhi: Indian Railways' latest megaproject allowing entry of private players to operate passenger trains will have several features that will come into effect for the first time. The railway has come up with a set of conditions for the private players willing to enter as operators of these passenger trains. The passengers opting for private player operated trains may have to pay for preferred seats, just like in airlines. Not just the preferred seats, passengers may even have to pay for any add on on-board services which may include wi-fi, onboard entertainment and few others. The decision to charge for these services, however, will be in the hands of private players. As per the conditions laid down for the private players, or as per the bid document, it has that bidders based on their financial capabilities will have to share gross revenue with the Indian Railways. While the railways has given private players the freedom to fix the fares for the trains they would be operating, they will also be having the freedom to explore areas of generating ancillary of new avenues to generate revenues. The proposed project which involves private trains to operate in Mumbai (cluster-1) will go through a two-stage competitive bidding process between interested parties, based on the share offered in the gross revenue of the project. Railways has clearly laid that a certain portion of gross revenue earned by the private player has to be shared with it as well. Factors mandated by Railways for private trains 1. Duration of journey: The running time taken by a train from originating station to destination station shall be comparable to the fastest train of Railways operating in the same route. No new similar scheduled train will depart the originating station in the same route within 60 minutes. 2. Length of Train: Each train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches and a maximum not exceeding the longest passenger train in the route. 3. Configuration of trains: To be decided as per party based on demand 4. Operation and maintenance: Governed by standards and specifications and requirements given in concession. While Railways will allow usage of its maintenance depots, private parties will have to provide for manpower, tools, and plants as required. The scheduled maintenance of the trains shall not be before 31 days or travel of 40,000 kms of such previous scheduled maintenance, whichever is later. 5. The crew (driver and guard) required for the operation of the trains shall be provided by Railways but will have to be trained by private parties 6. Safety certification shall be done by Railways based on its own safety parameters 7. Concession period will be for a period of 35 years commencing from the appointed date 8. Maximum Speed: Trains will have to be designed to operate at a maximum speed of 160 kmph 9. Determination of fare: The private entity shall have the freedom to decide on the fare to be charged from its passengers. 10. Ticketing: The private entity shall use the existing Indian Railway passenger reservation system for booking of tickets. In addition to the conditions laid down by the Railways for private players, the latter will have to pay a fixed and predetermined haulage charge, charges for energy consumed besides paying penalties for poor performance. Private companies will have a choice to procure trains and locomotives from a source of their choice complying with Railways' standards. However, the concession agreement would include provisions relating to mandatory sourcing via domestic production in India over a period of time. Although Indian Railways has set a target to run the first private player operated train by April 2023, the Ministry has called the first pre-bid meeting for the project on 21st July. The big companies including Esselgroup, Adani Group, RK Associates, Alstom, Bombardier, and several other big names have already shown their keen interest in this mega project. Earlier, the ministry has stated that “The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world-class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce the demand-supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector.”

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Jammu and Kashmir to reopen for tourists soon: Officials

Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday decided to reopen the tourism sector, which has been shut since August last year when the government scrapped the former state’s special status. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu, who issued directions to reopen the tourism sector, considered the backbone of J-K’s economy. “J&K to reopen for tourism soon. Govt to issue detailed guidelines and SoP shortly. LG issues directions in high level meeting in Srinagar today,” Rohit Kansal, J&K’s spokesperson and principal secretary, tweeted late on Monday night. Very few tourists have visited the Union territory in the last year after Article 370 was revoked and the coronavirus pandemic broke. Authorities had banned the entry of foreign tourists into the region as a precautionary measure in view of the outbreak of coronavirus disease around the world. The district administration in Srinagar, which houses many of Kashmir’s prominent tourist places, ordered the closure of parks and gardens, including tourist places like Mughal Gardens, as a precautionary measure soon after the lockdown. The Srinagar Tulip Garden, one of the largest tulip gardens in Asia where over 1.3 million flowers grow, was also kept closed. Hotels, restaurants and community kitchens were also closed and there was a ban on home delivery of food. Tour operators and travel agencies were asked to share details of bookings of national as well as international air travel. They were asked to share details of all residents travelling outside India and planning to return to Srinagar through their agencies. The outbreak of disease and the subsequent measures put further burden on Kashmir’s tourism industry, which had been witnessing a downturn since August last year.Tourism nosedived last year after the government issued a travel advisory asking tourists and pilgrims to leave the Kashmir Valley, a few days before the central government revoked the special status under Article 370 and split the region into two Union territories on August 5. For months, restrictions remained in place with no internet as the region remained shut. Though the restrictions were later removed, low-speed internet was restored and the travel advisory revoked, there were hardly any tourists visiting the region.

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Indian Railways all set to roll out new timetable

New Delhi: As the Indian Railways prepares to go back to normal operations, the new norm seems to be far from the pre-COVID times. The railways is preparing a 'zero-based' time-table for all trains. This means that the schedule and frequency of the earlier time-tabled passenger trains will be revised giving the railways flexibility to reduce the number of halts of mail/express trains and some other trains as well, TOI reported. Earlier, Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said that due to the coronavirus pandemic there has been a delay in implementation of the decision, but it will be implemented. As reported by TOI, sources have said that in few cases the halts of express/mail trains would be done away with after accessing the number of passengers, who board or de-board from a specific stoppage. The reduced number of halts is expected to reduce the travel time as trains can run non-stop for longer distances. Yadav had said that the 151 trains that are to be operated by private players will also be a part of the zero-based timetable. Private players to operate 151 trains Chairman Railway Board VK Yadav has said the operation of private trains along 109 routes is scheduled to begin by 2023. Talking about the fares that these trains will attract, he said: “We need to note that this is the era of competition, IRCTC had also run a few private trains. The fares that private train operators decide will weigh in factors including airfares that come in the same segment and also AC bus fares and we will fix the fares after comparing with them. I do not think that the fares fixed by private train operators will be too high ultimately if they want to keep financial viability,” he added. On June 22, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had said that "Private sector can support in a million ways... I am going to lease out new routes, in the sense that I am going to say that okay, you (private players) identify the route (where) you want to set up a train service. "If you want, we are willing to co-invest with you in new lines. We are willing to lease out traffic routes, we are willing to lease out parcel trains. So, there are a lot of opportunities opening up for the private sector," Goyal said. Passenger trains cancelled till August 12 As of now, Indian Railways has cancelled all the passenger train services till August 12. The trains include regular time-tabled mail or express trains and suburban rail services across the country. However, the railway ministry has said that the special Rajdhani trains that started from May 12, will be functional. The railways has also introduced 200 special mail and express train services for passengers during the lockdown, starting from June 1. Those trains will remain operational till August 12, 2020, it added.

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