The Uttarakhand government is reportedly planning a tourist circuit which will cover places visited and activities done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jim Corbett National Park during a special episode of the survival reality show ‘Man vs Wild’ with Bear Grylls.
Senior officials said they have started identifying the places and figuring out arrangements for tourists to visit and stay at the places visited by PM Modi during the shooting of the show shot inside Jim Corbett National Park in 2019, an Indian Express report said.
Uttarakhand Minister of Tourism Satpal Maharaj said the idea for a ‘Modi Circuit’ popped when he heard about the Game of Thrones tour during a visit to Croatia, as part of which tourists are taken to the locations where the famous TV series was shot.
“We have already created several circuits, for Maa Bhagwati, Shiva, Vishnu, Nav-grah, Golju Maharaj, Nagdevta, Hanuman, and Vivekanand. There is another major idea we are working on. PM Modi went to Jim Corbett Park with Bear Grylls. We are making a Modi trail for that. We will take tourists to places visited by PM Modi,” Satpal Maharaj was quoted as saying in the report.
In the Man Vs Wild episode that aired in August 2019 featuring PM Modi, Bear Grylls had met the PM at a rendezvous point and proceeded on a series of adventures. The two had walked alongside the Kosi River and crossed it using a makeshift raft amid rain. PM Modi had also consumed a drink made of neem leaves.
Back then, PM Modi had narrated his experience and also predicted that the area he visited would emerge as a big tourist attraction for the world in the coming days.
Additional CEO of the Adventure Sports Division of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Colonel Ashwini Pundir, said he had watched the episode of Man vs Wild featuring PM Modi, and a team from the Tourism Department is already working on the project.
“I have asked our people to make a list of places where Grylls took the PM. We are brainstorming on where to make the staying arrangements, how to popularise the circuit, and what could be our social media plan. We want the tourists to have the experience the PM had. We will also put up write-ups at important points to inform you that this is the place where PM Modi did a particular activity,” Pundir said.
Pundir called PM Modi the “biggest influencer” in the country and gave the example of the Rudra cave where he was photographed while in meditation, saying that since then, caves like it are pre-booked, often several years in advance.
“Soon as the plan [for the Modi Circuit] is complete, we will work on developing the area with the help of the District Magistrate and district tourism development committees. We will take the help of locals,” Pundir said.
As per officials, the plan is expected attract tourists from neighbouring states like Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, who can visit over the weekend, as covering the entire circut will not take a lot of time.
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