Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday said that Rewalsar Lake would be developed from tourism point of view as it was a religious place for the followers of three religions.

The Rewalsar Lake holds significance for Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists and it is located at an altitude of 1,360 mts, located around 140 km from Shimla.

Addressing a public meeting at Rewalser in Mandi district, Thakur said Asian Development Bank project would be sanctioned for Rewalser Lake to develop it in form of tourist circuit.

“Himachal has been blessed with immense tourism potential but nothing had been done in this direction,” he said, adding it was for the first time that a budget provision of Rs 50 crore has been made for tourism sector.

He said the government has decided to use the state-owned helicopter as Heli-Taxi for facilitating the tourists for three days a week.

He said that he took up the case of construction of airport in the state with the Central government for which land had been selected and the Airport would be constructed in Balh Assembly constituency.

Thakur said Himachal was poised to become first state in the country to have gas connection in every household. For this, the government has started Himachal GhariniSuvidhaYojana under which gas stove and cylinder were being provided to houses deprived of gas connection.

“Besides, steps have been taken for protecting GauVansh besides generating revenue for construction of GauSadans in the state. Rs 1 cess had been imposed on sale of every bottle of liquor in the state for construction and maintenance of GauSadans,” he said. He announced that a Commission would soon be constituted for protection of GauVansh in the state.

He said that the six month tenure of the present government had been filled with achievements and accomplishments. But some Congress leaders were making much hue and cry regarding his Delhi visits but after the state succeeded in getting Rs 4365 crore central assistance, they were now left speechless.

Thakur said the government had made some major decisions for the welfare of every section of the society. In its first cabinet meeting, the age limit of old persons for getting old age pension without income limit was lowered from 80 years to 70 years benefitting over 1.30 lakh people.