New Environmental Landmark Opens in City Beautiful

The Governor Punjab and Administrator, Chandigarh, Mr VP Singh Badnore today inaugurated the Museum of Trees - a unique environmental project for conservation of sacred trees of Sikhism after which many Sikh Gurudwaras are named. 

Because of Covid-19, the inauguration was done online. Ex-member of Parliament & Chairman, Minorities Commission, Sardar Tarlochan Singh and PHDCCI President, Karan Gilhotra, participated in the online inauguration.

Extending Gurpurab greetings on the 551st birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji, the Governor said this was the most appropriate day and most appropriate manner of remembering Guru Nanak whose hymns are replete with references to nature, environment, trees, plants and animal life.

The Governor warned that climate change is an immediate crisis for humanity and to meet this challenge people will have to come forward with initiatives like the Museum of Trees to mobilize public opinion.

He complimented DS Jaspal for patiently working for ten years to clone 12 sacred trees and hoped work on the remaining trees will also be completed soon.

Creator and Curator of the Museum of Trees, D S Jaspal, a retired IAS officer chief curator of the museum and author of Tryst with Trees – Punjab’s Sacred Heritage. thanked the Governor for supporting the project, which he said will be a source of attraction for all nature lovers, and for the Sikhs since many of the sacred trees have been replicated in this unique museum. 

Over a period of ten years, the Museum has been successful in reproducing genetically true replicas of twelve sacred trees including Dukh Bhanjani ber tree of Golden Temple; Ber tree of gurudwara Ber Sahib, Sultanpur Lodi; Ber tree of gurudwara Babe-di-Ber, Sialkot, Pakistan; Peepal tree of gurudwara Pipli Sahib, Amritsar, D S Jaspal informed. 

Many of these trees, he said, have botanical significance, viz., the Beri tree of Gurudwara Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodi is unique because it has very few spines. Similarly, the leaves of the peepal tree in Gurudwara Pipli Sahib have a unique yellow pigmentation.

The Museum of Trees has India’s most modern Mist Chamber facility and a Glass House Conservatory, with sixteen air conditioners, to preserve and propagate rare and endangered species which grow at high elevations.

Situated in village Daria of Chandigarh, about two kilometers inside of Chandigarh-Ambala road, off the Halomajra chowk, the entry ticket is Rs.400 per day and the museum hosts a number of workshops, and special visits for school children, and has an exhibition area too.  

More information can be had from their comprehensive website, https://museumoftrees.org, and can be contacted through email and phone for further information. 


Heritage Garden Farms Hallomajra – Panchkula Road Daria, Chandigarh

(Information courtesy, DIPR Punjab)

Arts and Heritage Festival

To give boost to art and culture, and present Chandigarh as a tourism hub, the Chandigarh Administration is organizing a six-day Arts and Heritage Festival beginning from March 27 to April 1st, 2010.

The six day festivity will put forth the best of theatre performances, dance, vocal and instrumental performances by national and international artists in the evening. During the day there will be many informative events like Painting workshop, face to face interaction with renowned authors, seminars on visual and literary art, Interactive sessions with renowned artists from art and music fraternity, live demonstration by the painters, post event informative interactions with performers and many more.

Call Tuk-Tuk

Now Chandigarhians need to dial 4242424 and get a pink-coloured autorickshaw, named Tuk-Tuk, at your doorstep. This novel concept, taking a cue from the 'dial a cab', is definitely a welcome addition to our small city where people need to commute short distances. With transparency in pricing it is catching on with the residents though there is a small fleet at the moment, and hopefully, would be scaled up soon.
It would be good if tuk-tuk as a tourist attraction should carry with them tourist literature, mineral water bottles, a small electrical fridge to have soft drink bottles, which the passenger can purchase from the driver.
Happy tuk-tuk.

Wah Chandigarh

The "Wah Chandigarh" conference has been a good start on 13th August, but a lot has to be done to go beyond mere discourses eloquently expressed from the pulpit, or verbal dissection of the state-of-affairs, and even verbose critical analysis of things-not-done, or things-should-have-been-done. The road map was missing. There had been brilliant sparks here and there, yet what kind of Chandigarh we are looking for 10, 15 or 20 years from now. The youngsters present at the meeting were at a loss to understand the proceedings wondering 'what's happening', as one could make out from their bored expressions.
"Tourism" is perhaps the only profession or an activity - the positive one - which carries the suffix "ism".
This suffix defines a distinctive system of beliefs, myth, doctrine or theory that guides a social movement, institution, class or group. But why tourism?
Tourism is not a mere business activity to attract people from one place to another part of the geographical area that could mean business for the cab owners, hotel and restaurant industry, and host of other shopping outlets.
Tourism has to be treated like a religion. A set of belief that encompasses the entire group of people who reside in that particular locality, town or city or country, where each one shares the same ethos and values that can distinctly add positivity to the place.
Tourism is a whole gamut of experience which a visitor experiences while reaching a destination, and even the experience of travelling to that destination.
Tourism is a commitment of all those people who are a part of the tourism eco-system of the country in particular, and the residents in general, who must portray and communicate the distinct ethos and value system of that area.
And if the government and all those stakeholders who look for attracting visitors from outside Chandigarh, must first define their mission, and a clear road map to make the visit of every single tourist into the city, memorable.
How does one go about it?
People engaged in tourism must first define what kind of Chandigarh they want to portray to the visitors and what positioning we need to put forth, so that people truly say "Wah", "what a city".
In building Chandigarh as a "wah" brand, the need is to look into all the touch points that a tourist experiences during the course of his/her visit to the city. Right from the air, road or train journey, to the time he hails a cab or a rickshaw, to the time he checks in, visits various tourist points, and returns home. If the sum total of all these experience gets him ten out of ten, we can be happy to pat ourselves. But can we truly say that we have reached that level?
We shall not reach any level till we benchmark ourselves to the best practices in each every department of tourism activity, with all the stakeholders equally accepting the norms of good behaviour.
Do we have a standards of excellence and code of conduct for the waiters who serve us in Shatabadi, or the porter at the Chandigarh airport, or the cab drivers, the cop in the street, the bell boy in the hotel, or more simply, the man on the street?
Do we have the information counters and enough literature available at various touch point for a tourist to find his way around and appreciate the significance of various tourist destinations?
Are we truthful, honest and fair in dealing with a tourist at our business establishments?
There are definitely pockets of excellence yet the need is to orchestrate the entire tourism structure into a cohesive whole which should project and portray positivity, joy, helpfulness, everywhere.
As you travel on the roads, the beauty is getting marred by wild shrubs and congress grass, heaps of garbage and building material, shabby exteriors of buildings. The city requires a little more color which can be discreetly applied whether on poles or roundabouts...murals on some of the big bricklined walls, graceful lighting of buildings, etc.
CII can take the lead to put together a think tank of architects, designers, opinion makers who can add aesthetics and make city surroundings aesthetics, engage stakeholders in adopting certain minimum code of conduct, and where every one celebrates the joy of 'the city beautiful'.

Chandigarh Run

Were you there at the Chandigarh run? check out the updates on CATS blog. CJ

Chandigarh Carnival on November 22-23

The annual colorful event, Chandigarh Carnival, is again going to bring in more of season's festivities on November 22-23.  The undulating green vista of the Leisure Valley in Sector 10, Chandigarh shall be the venue for the festivities with focus on 'Fun and Games'. 

Colorful floats will be carried through the city starting from the Leisure Valley through the Jan Marg to the Cricket Stadium and culminate in the Rose Garden. 

Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy, and Chandigarh Sahitya Kala Academy would put up their exhibits depicting various streams of art at the venue. 

It is a great time for the locals and tourists to have a peep into the local handicrafts, enjoy local food, and the evening musicals. 

On 22nd November, the Chandigarh Tourism Department has organised a musical nite, and on 23rd, a laughter show awaits the people. 

Innovation is the key

Chandigarh Tourism is making every possible effort to popularise the city as the ultimate tourist destination. With beautiful infrastructure and greenery abounding in the city, the tourism department is also promoting the city as a destination for high profile weddings, sports and medical tourism. It does not want to lose out on any opportunity.
In the years to come, tourism would be a major component of service industry and the tri-city's economic growth.

Chandigarh is the Cleanest City

Chandigarh has been declared as the cleanest city in India, by a survey conducted by A.C. Nielsen ORG MARG, covering 18 state capitals, including the metros, on the basis of the opinion of citizens on cleanliness in their cities.Chandigarh city emerged the best city with a score of 144, followed by Chennai with a score of 118 and Kolkata, with a score of 108. Others in that order are Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, and Trivandrum. Delhi ranked 9th with a score of (99), which is below the all-city average of 100.The city cleanliness survey was commissioned by Lifebuoy.

Innovative Tourism Conference on April 21

Chandigarh Tourism and ICFAI Business School are organising an International Tourism Conference on April 21 at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium, Chandigarh. More on www.prsichd.blogspot.com.

Son-et-lumiere premier on 18th March

The Administrator of Chandigarh and Governor of Panjab, Gen. S.F. Rodrigues (retd), shall unveil the 45-minute light and sound show on the City Beautiful on Sunday evening at the Government Museum & Art Gallery.

Conceived and executed by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation, Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), shall now be running and managing the week-end shows adding to another tourist attraction in the city.

The 45-minutes show for the city is unique in many ways. It deals with a very contemporary subject of the growth of a 55-year old city, whereas the world over most son-et-lumiere deal with historical subjects, says Ms Chandni Luthra, Senior Vice President of ITDC and the producer of the show.

The Rs.161 lakh project has been executed in the 100 sq meters promenade between the museum building and the administrative block with a sitting area which can accommodate 150 persons, informs Mr. J.S. Bir, Managing Director, CITCO.

The entire area with special lighting, artistically designed seating area which has been executed by the local artist Narender Thakur, has been developed to give the tourists an entirely new experience, he adds.

The inaugural show is in English and soon Hindi and Punjabi versions shall also be released which would be a regular feature at the Government Museum on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 7:30pm onwards, informs Mr. Arvind Malhotra, General Manager Tourism, CITCO.

The show opens on an exuberant note with a Bhangra performance, and the three sutradhaars, namely Sukhna Lake , the goddess Chandi and Le Corbusier, take one through a long journey from the partition of India to the guided tour of the present day city.

The show features the voices of Kirron Kher, Inder Misra, Jasbir Malik, Rini Khanna, Sunit Tandon, Sonia Grewal, Sunil Mansingh, and Ashish Dharamadhikari, and the music has been composed by Vanraj Bhatia, Jaspal Moni and Subhash Ghosh. The show is scripted by Dr. S.S. Bhatti, Sushmita Sengupta, and Vinod Nagpal.