Soon women will also be seen rafting tourists on the Ganga river in Rishikesh. For this, the Tourism Department has trained 14 women as white water river rafting guides. They have been registered and soon these women will go down to make their future in this field. Rishikesh has rapidly emerged as a major center of rafting. More than five lakh tourists are coming here for rafting every year. This activity is now becoming a source of employment along with business. Earlier only men were working as rafting guides in the state. At present, along with Uttarakhand, youth from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal are also working here as rafting guides. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had also given instructions to train the women of the state as rafting guides. In this sequence, the Tourism Department took steps towards training women. This year, 14 women were given free training for three months between April and June.
During this time, the expenses of living and food of these women were also borne by the department. Now these women are ready to make their future in this field. They also express their gratitude to Chief Minister Dhami for this.
Priyanka Rana, a resident of Siransu village in Pauri district, is doing BBA. She is also a kayaking athlete. She tells that a large number of people enjoy rafting in the river outside her village. When she got information about the government scheme, she got registered in it. Now she wants to make her future as a rafting guide. Kamakshi Goyal, a resident of Ramnagar, is working in a nautical company in Goa. She is already working in this field. She took training to enhance her skills. The state government helped a lot in this. Muskan, a resident of Rishikesh, is doing graduation. She tells that foreign trainers trained her for three months. This campaign run entirely by women was very good. Now she wants to make a future in this field.