The Uttarakhand tourism department has decided to reconsider all its contracts with Chinese companies, if any, across tourism development projects amid calls to boycott China. This comes in the backdrop of the brutal Ladakh face-off with China wherein 20 Indian soldiers were killed last month.
The development came after state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj on Tuesday evening asked the tourism secretary to ‘make a list of all the projects in which China is involved in any manner.’
Maharaj, while informing about the move said, “After what happened in Galwan Valley and amid the efforts of our country to decrease our dependency on China, I have directed the tourism secretary to make a list of all the projects in which China is involved. Once it is done, we will reconsider all contracts or agreements with them.”
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Maharaj said that the projects “may include the ropeway development ones, developing any tourist destination or any other project where the raw material is to be bought from China.”
The minister, however, refused to say whether the department will cancel all such agreements with the Chinese companies.
{{/usCountry}}The minister, however, refused to say whether the department will cancel all such agreements with the Chinese companies.
{{/usCountry}}“We will reconsider all of them and take necessary action after discussing the move with other officials of the government,” said Maharaj.
The tourism minister said that gradually the state would move towards disengaging all projects with China to lessen dependency on it. He also hailed Centre’s recent move of banning 59 Chinese mobile applications.
“Recently, PM Narendra Modi banned one of the popular apps called TikTok which is a significant move considering the fact that it was spying upon the data of its user. This cannot be ruled out for the Chinese companies involved in tourism projects also,” said Maharaj.