Bhopal (Chief Minister): Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said that rural Madhya Pradesh is moving towards self-employment through tourism. Home stay will strengthen the rural economy along with generating employment, said Yadav, adding that helicopter service will be started soon for the tourist places in MP by the State Tourism Board on the lines of Uttarakhand. 

The chief minister was speaking at Grameen Rang Paryatan Sang Utsav at Kushabhau Thakre Convention Centre here on Wednesday.

Besides, MoUs were signed with four major organisations to promote rural tourism and create livelihood opportunities. An MoU was signed between Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) and Divya Yoga Mandir Trust (Patanjali) with the aim of development in rural areas, empowerment of women and underprivileged sections and also improvement in tourism infrastructure in homestay clusters and tourist villages.

Yadav honoured the collectors of 10 districts who fulfilled the target of building homestays under the rural tourism project. Six Home Stay (3 Rural and 3 Urban) awards were given.

1700-member family

My Gramstay is called ‘Mahua Lake View Homestay’ and is located in Ladpura Khas village, about 4.5 km from Orchha. We had launched the project in 2021 with an investment of around Rs 11 lakh. That was the time of Covid-10 pandemic and naturally, we had no guests. But the pandemic also brought about a change in the priorities of the tourists. They want something new, they want to spend time in a peaceful place, somewhere where they can count stars. Around 1,700 people have so far stayed in our homestay. We treat them as our relatives. There are some 10-12 families which visit us every year. During tourist season (September-March) we are able to make between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh every month.

-Uma  Pathak, first prize winner of Gramstay