Centre to declare Haridwar, Rishikesh national heritage cities

DEHRADUN: The Union tourism ministry will be conferring the title of ‘twin national heritage cities’ to the temple towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar, the first instance of such a tag being given to any of the cities in the country. Announcing this during a visit to Uttarakhand on Tuesday, Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said that funds are being earmarked for the development of the two cities which will also be connected with a metro rail network in the near future.
Sharma also announced funds to the tune of Rs 120 crore for setting up a cable car ropeway system for Tehri lake and the char dhams. While Rs 50 crore has been earmarked for Kedarnath, Rs 40 crore is for the other char dham destinations, and Rs 30 crore for Tehri lake.
Elaborating on the plans being chalked out for Haridwar and Rishikesh, Sharma said that the two cities are proposed to be developed as “world-class” yoga and spirituality centres. “Our first priority is to help improve the infrastructure and traffic situation in these cities. We have asked the state tourism department to send detailed proposals in this regard to the Centre. In order to improve connectivity between the cities, we are also proposing starting of a metro train between Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun.”
Lauding the Centre for the initiative, Lokesh Ohri, co-convener, INTACH (Uttarakhand chapter) told TOI, “Haridwar is very rich in heritage as it has more than 370 heritage sites while Rishikesh has around 30. These heritage sites include old temples, dharamshalas, akharas, havelis, etc, where there are many murals and artefacts of historic value. Unfortunately, most of them are neglected and in a very bad state and are crying for urgent conservation. Even if the Har-ki-Pauri precincts -- which has around 70 heritage sites -- is revived, which is not such a tall order, it would be a wonderful achievement.”