Centre to declare Rishikesh, Haridwar as Twin National Heritage Cities

  The Union tourism ministry will be conferring the title of ‘twin national heritage cities‘ to the temple towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar. This will be a first of its kind instance where a city has been given such a tag.

• As per the ministry, the funds are being earmarked for the development of the two cities already. Funds to the tune of Rs 120 crore for setting up a cable car ropeway system for Tehri Lake and the char dhams were allotted.
• While Rs 50 crore has been allotted for Kedarnath, Rs 40 crore is for the other char dham destinations, Rs 30 crore has been allotted for Tehri Lake alone.

Plans:

• The plans have already been chalked out for Haridwar and Rishikesh, and according to that the two cities are proposed to be developed as world-class yoga and spirituality centres.
• But the first priority will be to improve the infrastructure and traffic situation in these cities before anything else.
• Also to improve connectivity between the cities, a proposal of starting a metro train between Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun has been sent to the state tourism department.

About the cities:

Haridwar is very rich in heritage as it has more than 370 heritage sites. On the other hand, Rishikesh has around 30 of its own. These heritage sites include old temples, dharamshalas, akharas, havelis, etc, where there are many murals and artifacts of historic value. Unfortunately, most of them are neglected and in a very bad state currently and require urgent conservation.

Important Points to Remember:

• Rishikesh and Haridwar located in- Uttarakhand
• Uttarakhand Capital- Dehradun
• Union Tourism Minister- Mahesh Sharma