india

Updated: Aug 22, 2019 01:52 IST

Mount Kailash and Kangchenzunga are among the 137 mountains that the Centre has opened up to foreigners for trekking and mountaineering. The peaks are spread across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. J&K has 15 peaks.

Tourism ministry officials said that the recommendation was made by union tourism minister Prahlad Patel to union home minister Amit Shah following a long-term demand from the adventure tourism industry. Among the 137 mountains, Uttarakhand has 51 peaks, Sikkim 24 and Himachal Pradesh, 37. These include Dunagiri (7,066 m) and Hardeol (7,151 m) in Uttarakhand; Kabru South (7000 m) and North (7000 m) in Sikkim; and Mulkila (6,571 metre) in Himachal Pradesh.

On Tuesday, during a meeting with state tourism ministers Patel asked them to firm up adventure tourism efforts in their respective states. The state ministers were asked to issue guidelines for adventure tourism in line with the Indian Adventure Tourism Guidelines 2018, which covers land, air and water-based activities including mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, paragliding, kayaking, scuba diving among other sports.

States were also asked to hand out licenses to professionals to avoid accidents, and engage a nodal officer to look into adventure tourism-related matters.