Amritsar's tourism needs greater push

Tourists to Amritsar tend to overlook several of its historical spots

Amritsar has huge potential in terms of tourism, as there are many places of historical importance and tourist interest, like Ram Tirath, Khadur Sahib and Harike Pattan, besides the famous Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh.

There is a need for these places to be marketed to boost tourism. At present, tourists visiting the city hardly visit them due to their ignorance.

The nucleus of the city, the Harminder Sahib, widely known as the Golden Temple, has already been acknowledged by a BBC holiday poll as the fifth most desired places in the world to be visited, far above the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.

While tourist traffic to the Golden Temple has increased nearly 10-fold in the last five years, since 1,00,000 to 5,00,000 people visit the temple daily, other places areoverlooked.

CII northern zone Chairman, Gunbir Singh said, "The historic Ram Tirath, which is ten miles from the civil lines, has been ignored for too long. Its recognition as a pilgrimage spot and its management on the lines of Shri Vaishno Devi shrine need to be done sooner than later."

Ram Tirath is the spot where Sri Ram's son Luv and Kush were born, as well as the place where Ramayan was written by Rishi Valmiki.

Apart from this is the Durgiana temple which bears a striking resemblance to the Golden Temple and is a must-see for all tourists visiting the city. Other places of interest include Khadur Sahib, where the concept of Sati was stopped and Goindwal Sahib, where a community kitchen was started.

Experts believe a tourist contributes to a city's economy only if he stays for 2-3 nights. Due to lack of facilities in Amritsar, most tourists do not stay overnight. Singh added that the need of the hour was to create infrastructure by establishing an Amritsar Development Authority(ADA), a nodal single window for the city's development.

Punjab Tourism Director, Jagjit Puri, said "We had sent a proposal to the Centre for promoting religious tourism and we asked for a grant of Rs 8 crore for the development of places which have been classified under the religious circuit. "

Some places like Attari in Amritsar have been identified under areas of freedom struggle" and for their development we had asked the Centre for another Rs 8 crore."

He added: "We have already received Rs 5 crore for improving infrastructure at Wagah and another Rs 5 crore for restoration of historical monuments, creation of basic amenities and to market places of importance" ""

The Centre has also granted Rs 26 lakh for preparation of CDs which will feature places of tourist importance. We are also planning to publish literature and coffee table book to promote tourism."

There is also Hariake "" a virgin bird sanctuary and massive wet lands and Khalsa College "" a monument par excellence besides being a spot where a Sikh Muslim battle was fought.