nainital soon rishikesh will not be the sole destination in uttarakhand for water and adventure sports lovers as chief minister harish rawat on sunday announced that the hill state would throw open its high altitude water bodies including several lakes situated at a height of 4000 to 5000 m above sea level for such activities he added that these himalayan lakes some of which were located in stunningly beautiful locations would be developed for water sports like kayaking and rowing besides other adventure tourism activities we have the potential to promote adventure sports in several areas like undiscovered natural lakes in the moderate high altitude places like bheemtal lake in nainital district dodital in uttarkashi district and deoria tal near ukhimath town in rudraprayag district but these beautiful water bodies need to be developed for adventure sports said rawat addressing a gathering near mallitals oldest boat club after inaugurating the newlybuilt sailing boat and rickshaw stand worth rs 350 lakh the cm said he has asked senior officials to identify the himalayan lakes which could be developed to give impetus to watersportsrelated activities adventure sports lovers as well as those engaged in the commercial aspects of such activites welcomed the cms announcement this is a good move as it will boost adventure tourismrelated activities and also prove financially viable for the state said a water sports organizer manoj rawat they however cautioned that these himalayan lakes need to be developed properly to promote water sports and other adventure tourism activities in garhwal and kumaon hills the hill state has taken measures to provide infrastructure and other facilities at popular tourist spots like mussoorie nainital ranikhet and munsyari but still has a long way to go in the field of adventure and water sports tourism they added meanwhile speaking about the national games to be held in uttarakhand in 2018 rawat said the government would also include adventure sports like sailing in the games list he also urged hoteliers in nainital and other places in the kumaon region to promote cultural tourism by organizing sociocultural activities like folk dances and games if you set up kumanoni cultural activities its cuisines as part of a complete package of entertainment programme it will help boost cultural tourism increase income via domestic and international tourism said cm rawat he asked hotel owners to organize flowers festivals at nainital and almora to attract tourists referring to the ongoing char dham yatra the cm said over 10 lakh devotees and tourists have reached gangotri yamnotri badrinath and kedarnath shrines to pay their obeisance since the yatra commenced on may 21 he added that about 5000 devotees had successfully completed 19day long nanda raj yatra which began from nauti village on august 14 2014 and ended at home kund in chamoli district