Young volunteers to be deployed in 13 cities to help tourists

NEW DELHI: Tourism Ministry is coming out with a new scheme - Paryatak Mitra -- under which young volunteers, primarily from NCC and NSS, would be deployed in 13 cities with pilgrimage connections to help the tourists.

The scheme will be launched on January 12, which is celebrated as National Youth Day to mark the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, a Tourism Ministry source said.

The volunteers, primarily from National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme (NSS), will be in the age group of 18-28 years, he added.

"They will be deployed at PRASAD cities to help the tourists for eight hours daily for 10 days. In return, they would be given certificates for their service," he said.

Tourism Ministry will provide one-week training to the volunteers prior to their assignments, according to the source.

As many as 13 cities-- namely Ajmer, Amritsar, Amravati, Dwarka, Gaya, Kamakhaya, Kanchipuram, Kedarnath, Mathura, Patna, Puri, Varanasi and Velankanni -- have been identified for development under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) by the Ministry of Tourism..

The service of the "educated" and the "English speaking" volunteers would help in promoting tourism sector, which is one of the focus areas of the government, according to the source.