Jammu, June 6 -- Centre has included the famous Patnitop hill resort in its global tourist destination scheme, which has sparked optimism for tourist-related growth in the area. Hill resort of Patnitop, 120 kms from Jammu, is in the list of Centre's top 50 places under global tourist destination scheme. The scenic hill resort in the Shivalik belt of the lower Himalayas is known for its cool climes, snowfall during winters, pine trees and greenery yet it remained a subject of utter neglect for decades together, said Ashwani Gupta, a local from Kud. He said that Centre's initiative to develop requisite infrastructure at a cost of Rs 500 crore would definitely infuse a fresh lease of life into it. Patnitop had already been the most preferred tourist destination for the people of Jammu and north India due to its proximity and easy accessibility but it was never developed into a proper tourist resort. Patnitop doesn't even have proper roads, leave aside other facilities, said Neeraj Sharma, a banker. BJP's MLA from Chenani constituency, Balwant Singh Mankotia, said, "Under Centre's initiative an amount of Rs.500 crore will be spent on infrastructure development and the year 2029 has been fixed as the project's deadline. Firstly, a detailed project report in tandem with the stakeholders and a global agency will be prepared. We already had a meeting on Wednesday where we have invited their suggestions to make it a world class tourist destination. Another meeting is expected in a week or so." The suggestions received from various stakeholders will be incorporated into the destination development strategy being prepared under the global destination scheme for Patnitop. Mankotia informed that 30 km radius around Patnitop has to be developed. "We need 800 kanals of land free of cost for the purpose. It was a long pending demand of Jammu region to develop the area, which had been neglected by the successive regimes in J&K," he added. We are exploring the possibilities to turn it into a dream marriage destination or an education hub where rich Dogra culture also gets promoted, he said. "The global destination scheme offers a unique opportunity to unlock Patnitop's tourism potential," said Mankotia....