Uttarakhand Tourism to promote 'Vivekananda Circuit'

Uttarakhand Tourism's recent move to promote a new circuit christened 'Vivekananda Circuit' promoting the places Swami Vivekananda visited and stayed in the state has been initiated by Tarun Vijay, member, Rajya Sabha. The circuit will be developed and promoted by the Swami Vivekananda Heritage Committee in Uttarakhand. He has helped the state tourism department to develop and promote the circuit.

Vijay has assured a sum of `20 lakh for landscaping and making a proper heritage place for Swami Vivekananda's 'tapasya kutir' (meditation place) at Rajpur, 13 kms from Dehradun city. Vijay has also also helped install a statute of Swami near Ramakrishna Ashram, Kishanpur where the Swami had stayed, with the help of the state government. “My idea is to create a 'Vivekananda trail' in Uttarakhand, which will include all places with the Bengali monk's memories. These places have different stories to tell and will help in attracting tourists from different parts of the country and specially the lakhs of followers from all over the world”, said Vijay.

According to Vijay, Swami visited places like Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh.

Rakesh Sharma, principal secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand said, "The work on the project has already started and will be completed shortly."