Nishikant Khajuria
LATTI-DUDU, July 6: Despite being at par with neighbouring Himachal Pradesh in scenic natural beauty with additional feature of surrounding places of high religious significance, the picturesque Sudhmahadev-Ramnagar circuit is deprived of required attention and development for becoming a major tourist destination.
Surrounded by lush green deodar forests, this circuit comprises of scenic Latti, Jakhed, Dudu, Shiv Gali, Gandh Top, Kulwanta etc and offers great views of the mountain landscape in the surroundings. The breathtaking views of natural beauty make it worthy of a visit.
Further, there are places of high religious significance such as Gourikund, Sudhmahadev, Mantalai, Vasuki Naag temple, Chandi Mata temple, Paap Nashni Bowli (natural spring), Devak etc where a large number of pilgrimage tourists come in particular seasons of the year.
However, notwithstanding the abundance of natural beauty and historic places of high religious significance, this entire circuit in the Southern region of NH-1A from Chenani upto Ramnagar, lacks facilities like good road connectivity and accommodation etc for the tourism promotion.
The situation can be gauged from the fact that despite the influx of thousands of pilgrims and tourists to Sudhmahadev, not even a toilet facility has been provided in the area by the Government authorities while for night stay of tourist, the only accommodation is a temple Sarai, which remain overcrowded during the summer days, said Sarpanch Pritam Chand.
A Yatri Bhawan was proposed near the Hospital building around three years back but nothing could materialize in this regard for the reasons best known to the concerned authorities while for creating the toilet facility, the authorities are still looking for a suitable space for the last several years, he added.
Situated a few kilometers further away from Sudhmahadev, Mantalai is the place associated with the legend of the marriage of Lord Shiva with the Goddess Parvati.
This temple is also of great archaeological significance as red earthenware and terra cotta figures were discovered at this place.
Besides the Shiv Temple, the major attraction of this place is the grand complex created by Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari, which includes a tree shaped house, an air strip, a hostel, a zoo and a number of other unfinished projects spread over 1008 kanals of land surrounded by Deodar trees.
However, what to say of creating additional facilities for the visitors, the Department of Tourism and more particularly the Patnitop Development Authority, which has been entrusted the job of developing this circuit, are apparently not taking care of even the available infrastructure.
The grand complex created by Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari at Mantalai is turning into ruins day by day with no efforts to save the precious property while the Guest Houses of Tourism Department at Sudhmahadev have turned into ruins and are closed since years.
The State of existing infrastructure can be further gauged from the fact that PDA hut at Dudu near Vasuki Naag temple is virtually lying closed due to no upkeep and maintenance while Tourism hut at Dudu has been occupied by CRPF, informed the locals.
The road link from Chenani to Latti is good but the connectivity to places ahead, like Jakhed, Dudu, Shiv Gali, Gandh Top, etc is very bad though work at several places is going on.
Keeping in view the tourism potential of the area, a number of locals even offered creation of facilities such as Guest Houses and Huts on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode but they rued that there was no response from the Government and Tourism Department.
“If the Government develops this circuit by providing good road connectivity and facilities like accommodation, these places can attract a large number of tourists like Himachal Pradesh, said K L Gupta of Latti.
Chairman of the Patnitop Development Authority Dr Raman Kesar admitted that this Sudhmahadev-Ramnagar circuit has the potential at par with Himachal Pradesh in attracting tourist for enjoying natural beauty but the poor road connectivity was the major hurdle in developing these spots.
“However, the PDA is trying its best to create facilities there for the visitors and several mega projects in this regard are in offing. We have developed a park at Gandh Top and a Guest House at Dudu besides two view points while a mega project of Rs 5 crores has been approved for renovation of the Mantalai Ashram,” he said.
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