Chandigarh tourism: The Chandigarh Administration is all set to present its first comprehensive tourism master plan to Union Minister of Culture and Minister of Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The Union Territory (UT) officials will be giving a detailed presentation during a two-day meeting in Udaipur on Tuesday and Wednesday. The highlights of the plan include eco-tourism through lakes and green spaces, activities such as trekking, boating and cycling, and cultural tourism through festivals, exhibitions and performances. Certain proposals, including the development of a concert-cum-exhibition centre on 25 acres of land in Sarangpur at a cost of around Rs 40 crore, a fully digital museum at the Le Corbusier Centre in Sector 19 for Rs 20–35 crore, a natural history museum (Rs 35 crore) at the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Sector 10, will be tabled during the meeting. The presentation will also outline funding requirements for major projects identified under the Centre’s Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme. Following recommendations by a project development and management consultant (PDMC), the Chandigarh Administration has planned various tourist-centric activities — from an aerial safari at Rock Garden to a virtual tour of Capitol Complex — under the scheme to give impetus to tourism in the UT. Under the marketing and digitalisation component of Swadesh Darshan 2.0, theme-based lighting and promotion of museums will be done in the city. The funds for the scheme will be provided by the Union Ministry of Tourism. The administration will also showcase its landscapes, including Sarangpur, to secure the central government’s assistance for future tourism projects. On an average, as many as 30,000 international and 1.2 million domestic tourists visit Chandigarh every year. In the master plan for the Capitol Complex, apart from a virtual tour of Capitol Complex using AR/VR technologies, human scale model of the cafeteria at first floor and battery-operated cars for specially-abled and elderly visitors have been proposed. At Rock Garden, a proposal for improvement of entry and ticket window, re-designing or re-location of souvenir shop, oxidation pond, rock museum, aerial safari, theme-based rock café, and addition of succulent garden have been suggested.
