Minister of State for Tourism, Education, Technical Education, Culture, Horticulture, Floriculture and Parks, Priya Sethi today said that the government is steadfast on the resolve to promote tourism potential of Jammu region in a big way and all out efforts have been initiated to tap the untapped tourist potential of Jammu.“Besides unparallel natural scenic beauty the region has vast potential for heritage tourism and we will ensure that more and more tourists come to be part of the heritage of this region,” she added.The Minister was speaking while touring the ancient and historic sites of Ambaran and Jia Pota Ghat at Akhnoor.MLA, Akhnoor Rajiv Sharma, SDM, Akhnoor and other officers accompanied the Minister during the visit.Priya called upon the officers of tourism department and administration to ensure that the ancient Buddist site of Ambaran and Jia Pota Ghat besides historic Gurudwara and other tourist sites are provided with adequate facilities for the convenience of the tourists.
She said Ambaran is among those rarest Buddhist sites in the state which has a history of over 2000 years and the visit of Dalai Lama has brought the site into international focus. The site has potential to be developed into a major Buddhist destination in the state and efforts would be made to bring the site up on the tourist map of the region, she added.“We have to work on devising special packages for such sites which are very near to the main city and have huge potential for tourism,” she said.The Minister said that the tourism potential of the region is getting focused attention from the government and numbers of projects have been kick started to build modern infrastructure in the region. She said development of Tawi front, border tourism, exploring tourism in Ranjit Sagar Dam, Basholi, Udhampur, Mantalai , Surinsar, Mansar and other tourist spots have been fast tracked.It is pertinent to mention that Ambaran is the eigth place in the world where relics of Budha have been found in a stupa. Excavations have unearthed terracotta figures, small sculptures, pottery and burnt bricks structures dating back to pre Kushan and post Gupta dynasty.