CM Sukhu opens rafting championship in Shimla

Shimla: Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu here today inaugurated the Asian River Rafting Championship from the Ridge and said the state government was committed to promote adventure tourism in the state.

The championship is being organised on the Sutlej river, near Basantpur in Sunni tehsil in Shimla district from March 4 to 9. About 20 national and international teams from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Indonesia are participating.

After inaugurating the championship, the CM said, “In order to promote adventure sports, a river rafting marathon was also successfully organised at Nadaun in Hamirpur district recently. Besides, a paragliding championship was also hosted at Junga in Shimla district last year in association with a private company involved in organising adventure sports.”

Sukhu said apart from promoting tourism, the hosting of adventure sports and other related tourism activities also created self-employment opportunities for the local people.

“The state government will keep supporting such adventure activities in future as well,” he added.

He said the tourism sector was the mainstay of the state’s economy and thousands of families were associated with this.

“The state government has made earnest efforts to improve the influx of tourists by strengthening basic infrastructure in the tourism sector. We have fixed a target of attracting five crore tourists in the state annually,” he added.