District Development Commissioner Rajouri Abhishek Sharma chaired a review meeting at Dak Bungalow, Nowshera today to assess the status of Vibrant Villages Sariah, Pukhrani, Kalal and Bhawani being developed under the Vibrant Village Programme (VVP) 2.0.
The District Development Commissioner interacted with prominent citizens and members of management committees of key religious and heritage sites, including Manglamata Temple, Baba Bhiram Shah, Shah Lakh Ziyarat and Ram Mandir, to undertake a detailed gap analysis aimed at strengthening tourism and allied infrastructure in these border villages.
During the interaction, stakeholders highlighted issues related to toilet facilities, residential rooms, children's parks, link roads, agro-tourism, homestays, water supply, security and other basic amenities required for attracting and facilitating tourists.
Emphasising a holistic tourism approach, the DDC underlined the need to develop a well-defined tourism circuit so that visitors can cover all locations in a single day, with Manglamata being developed as the most feasible night-stay hub. He directed officials to install attractive signage, upload high-quality photographs on official websites and actively involve youth and media in publicity to give wider visibility to the circuit.
The DDC also stressed the promotion of local cuisines, introduction of e-rickshaws for tourist movement within the circuit and focused development of agro-tourism, border tourism and homestays to generate livelihood opportunities for local residents.
He instructed the concerned departments to address all gaps in a time-bound manner and prepare site-specific DPRs as per the requirements of each location. The Assistant Director Tourism was directed to conduct a special awareness camp for the registration of homestays to enable villagers to benefit from tourism-led growth.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajouri Malikzada Sheraz ul Haq, ADC Nowshera Pritam Lal Thapa, Colonel Vikrant Sharma, CPO Maqsood Ahmed, ACD Auqil Naveed, Tehsildar Nowshera Rampaul, BDO Gokul Kumar, AD Tourism Mumtaz Ahmed and other district and sectoral officers were present in the meeting.