Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said the Himachal Pradesh government is planning to create replicas of the twelve 12 Jyothirlingas in Mandi town to develop it as an added attraction for tourists.
After viewing a presentation in this regard, Thakur said the state government was contemplating to develop a Shiv Dham in Mandi town to attract tourists towards Choti Kashi Mandi.
“The idea of the state government is to create replica of the twelve Jyothirlinga viz Somnath in Gir Somnath, Gujarat, Mallikarjuna in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar in Ujjain and Omkareshwar in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Vishwanath in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Trimbakeshwar in Nashik, Maharashtra, Vaidyanath in Parli, Maharashtra, Nageshvara in Dwarka, Gujarat, Ramanathaswamy in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar in Aurangabad, Maharashtra,” he added.
The Chief Minister said while developing the Shiv Dham, it would be ensured that the minimum damage was caused to the ecology and environment of the area.
He said that efforts would also be made for external funding of this ambitious project.
Additional Chief Secretary Tourism R D Dhiman, Director Tourism Yunus Khan, Managing Director Tourism Kumud Singh and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.