Odisha To Transform Dams Into Tourist Attractions; To Spend Rs 50 Crore Over Three Years

Bhubaneswar: With an aim to harness the potential of the large number of river water dams of the state, the Odisha Government has come up with a proposal to develop them into tourist attractions. Under the Periphery Development of Reservoirs and Water Bodies Scheme, selected areas nearer to the Dams will be developed into theme based tourist attractions that will have learning potential for students, recreational facilities, museums, audio visual programs, guided tours, boating and camping facilities.

For this, the Water Resources Department has earmarked a sum of Rs Fifty Crore that will be spent in the next three years. The Department will spend Rs 5 Crore in the first year and Rs 27 Crore and Rs 18 Crore in the next two years respectively. The thrust will be on developing the areas keeping an eye on the educational and informative potential. Dams such as Indravati, Lower Indra, Salia dam, Upper Jonk Upper Kolab, Samal Barrage, Balimela, Harabhangi, Ghodahada, Bhanjanagar dam, Salandi, etc., have a good potential to be transformed into tourist attractions.

Of the 163 big dams over various rivers of the state, first 18 places will be developed and subsequently, other places will be taken up looking into the response.