To attract more tourists, upgrade for Guj's "Seema Darshan"

The Gujarat government's ambitious border tourism project, the "Seema Darshan", is set to get an upgrade.
Gujarat Tourism Director Jenu Devan told PTI here that the government planned to build facilities like an exhibition centre and parking arrangement there with an aim to attract around 10,000 vistors every day.
"Border tourism or "Seema Darshan" was introduced last year and till now over a lakh tourists have already visited. We plan to build an exhibition centre that will depict the history and role of the security forces in the area. Facilities like parking, toilets and refreshment outlets will be constructed so as to make the visit comfortable," Devan informed.

He added that a sum of Rs 25 crore had been approved for the current fiscal by the state government.
"Seema Darshan" is carried out at the border at Suigam outpost in Banaskantha district with visitors being taken from Jaloya village to Nedabet Point where Border Security Force (BSF) personnel tell them about the history of the area and the role it played during the 1971 war with Pakistan.
One of the highlights planned, he said, is a "Beating the Retreat" ceremony on the lines of the world-famous one at the Indo-Pak border at Wagah.
The ceremony at the Wagah border attracts thousands of people where security personnel, currently from the BSF, have ceremonially carried out the "lowering of the flags" every day since 1959.

Border tourism on similar lines to Gujarat's "Seema Darshan" is also held at the Hussainiwala border in Punjab's Ferozepur.