Himachal CM flags off Asian River Rafting Championship near Shimla, teams from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan among 20 participants

TNR Desk
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated the Asian River Rafting Championship being organised from March 4-9 (2024) on Sutlej river near Basantpur in Sunni in Shimla district. The Chief Minister inaugurated the event at a function held on the Ridge in Shimla.
As many as 20 national and international teams from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Indonesia are participating in this championship.
After flagging off the teams participating in the championship, the Chief Minister said that his government was committed to promoting adventure tourism in the state and in this direction, a river rafting marathon was also successfully organised at Nadaun in Hamirpur district recently.
Besides, a paragliding championship was also hosted at Junga in Shimla district last year in association with a private company involved in organising adventure sports. He said that apart from promoting tourism, the hosting of adventure sports and other related tourism activities also created self-employment opportunities and provides employment to the local people, thus adding to their economy. He said that the state government would keep supporting these adventure activities in future as well.
The Chief Minister said that the tourism sector was the mainstay of the state’s economy and thousands of families were associated with this. “The government is making earnest efforts to increase the influx of tourists in the state by strengthening the basic infrastructure in the tourism sector. We have fixed a target of attracting five crore tourists in the state annually,” he reiterated.
Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, 7th State Finance Commission chairman Nand Lal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mohan Lal Brakta, MLA Harish Janartha, HP State Cooperative Bank Chairman Devender Shyam, HP State Forest Development Corporation Vice-Chairman Kehar Singh Khachi, Shimla Municipal Corporation Mayor Surinder Chauhan, Congress leaders Satpal Raizada and Surender Mankotia, Director of Tourism and Civil Aviation Manasi Sahay Thakur, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.