In order to showcase the diverse tourism products of Chhattisgarh, the Ministry of Tourism hosted its 30th webinar titled “Hidden Treasures of Chhattisgarh’ under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series.
Moderated by Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General , Ministry of Tourism, P. Anbalagan, Secretary (Tourism & Culture), Government of Chhattisgarh, set the background for the session with his introductory remarks and the session was presented by Jaspreet Singh Bhatia, Founder, Icecubes Holidays, Jeet Singh Arya, Founder, Unexplored Bastar and Thommen Jose, Author & Blogger. The three presenters virtualised and highlighted the unexplored destinations and unique cultural and heritage wealth of Chhattisgarh.
Bhatia set the tone of the session by highlighting some of the key facts of the states and its immense tourism potential. Being Central Eastern state of India, it borders 7 states, 44 per cent of land covered by forest, 34 per cent of tribal population. With 3 National parks, 11 Wildlife sanctuaries, 1 Bio-sphere reserve it is one of India’s greenest state and well connected with rest of the country by air, rail and road network.
Some of the best waterfalls of country are in Chhattisgarh, few of them are Chitrakote, Amritdhara, Pawai, Machli etc., Chhattisgarh is also blessed with three shaktipeeths Champaranya, Rajim and Sheorinarayan. Wrought iron, bell metal and terracotta are famous handicrafts of Chhattisgarh.
Arya took the audience to a virtual tour of Bastar. The region has spectacular scenic views, roads and hidden waterfalls. Bastar region has more than 15 waterfalls. Kotumsar caves, which are largest series of caves after Meghalaya are in Chhattisgarh. Bastar Dussehra world’s longest festival which is celebrated for 75 days has a different story related to goddess Dhanteswari. Gond’s, Madiya, Muriaya’s are some of the tribes making Bastar as the land of indigenous tribes.
Jose presented the lesser known places such as Karkabhat, Dipadih, Ghotul, Sonabai and Cock fighting, all places of tourist interest and experiences that Chhattisgargh offers.
Concluding the webinar session, Brar informed about Ministry of Tourism releasing the Operational Recommendations for the various hospitality and travel trade sectors namely hotels, Restaurants, B&B , Homestay / farmstay and Tourism Service Provider.
