Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today assured that all efforts will be made to develop hill station Chikhaldara in Amravati district as a potential tourist place.
Fadnavis, who inaugurated the 4-day-long 'Chikhaldara Tourism Festival' here announced that City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) will invest Rs 500 crore for development of this hill station in the Vidarbha region.
"Chikhaldara has the best nature, best forest, best atmosphere. It is bigger than Mahabaleshwar (a hill station in Western Maharashtra), but smaller in tourist inflow, even though it has every potential to blossom into a great tourist place," he said.
According to the Chief Minister, Chikhaldara lagged behind because it lacked in basic facilities like connectivity and lodgings.
"When tourism has emerged as the largest employment generating sector, it is essential to exploit the tourism potential of Chikhaldara," he added.
The CIDCO development plan (for Chikhaldara), lying pending for years, was approved last night, Fadnavis informed.
"CIDCO will now invest Rs 500 crore in Chikhaldara to create basic infrastructure and I have asked CIDCO's chief administrative officer Sunil Kendrekar to personally execute the plan to perfection.
"If tourists want to ask where they should go for spending their holidays, the name of Chikhaldara should come first to their mind. This is my wish and I am confident CIDCO will develop the place in the same manner," he added.
According to him, strawberry production being done by the Chikhaldara farmers could be the added attraction for the tourists.
Maharashtra Ministers Pravin Pote and Ranjit Patil were present on the occasion.
