DEHRADUN: In an effort to boost tourism revenue, one of the major sources of income of the state, Uttarakhand government has relaxed norms to visit the state and has removed the ceiling of 2000 visitors per day. Other relaxations were granted in terms of ICMR recognized COVID-19 negative report and making 'Truenat' tests acceptable.
Madan Kaushik, state cabinet minister and spokesperson for the state government said, "The visitors have to register themselves on a state government smart city portal smartcitydehradun.uk.gov.in and produce Covid negative report ranging in the last 72-hours."
A letter from secretary of disaster management SA Murugesan dated August 30, 2020 stated that there shall be no restriction on inter-state or intrastate movement of people and goods.
The move comes after demands of relaxations by tourism sector which forms backbone of the economy of the hill state.
The tourism, especially religious tourism has been hit hard in the state with thousands left struggling for ends to meet.
As religious tourism has got hit badly in Uttarakhand due to Covid 19 epidemic, priests are opting for odd jobs including factory workers. The priests by working in factories are earning between Rs 8000-12,000 per month.
Many also appealed to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to help them in this hour of financial scarcity.
The state government had cancelled Kanwar Yatra this year in the wake of epidemic which hit religious tourism in Haridwar the hardest after Char Dham Yatra.
However, the Char Dham Yatra was allowed from June 2020 for state residents and later for residents of other states too since last month giving some respite to the sector.
The devotees of 'Kanwar Yatra' come from the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to Uttarakhand.
Last year, more than 3.5 crore devotees visited Haridwar through the yatra in the auspicious month.