DEHRADUN: Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s seaplane ride from Sabarmati river to Dharoi dam in Mehsana district of Gujarat, Uttarakhand tourism minister Satpal Maharaj has said that the Himalayan state would use the aircraft to take tourists to Tehri lake.Maharaj told TOI on Wednesday, “A seaplane that can carry 12 tourists in one go will be a major attraction. We can introduce the machines from Tehri lake which is evolving as a big tourism destination in the state.”The plan includes ferrying tourists from Dehradun to Tehri on a seaplane at Rs 5,000 per head.This is the latest in a series of grand announcements made by Maharaj to turn Tehri Lake into a tourist magnet. Earlier this year, Maharaj had said that a submarine with glass enclosure will either be imported or expertise to create one will be taken from France to facilitate underwater view of the submerged historical kingdom of Tehri. While Maharaj had said that submarines would be introduced in the dam within two years, several experts had raised doubts over the feasibility of the project.The tourism minister’s move to get seaplanes for Tehri lake already has the backing of the Centre and chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.Union minister Nitin Gadkari after meeting Rawat in New Delhi on Tuesday had announced that seaplanes would be made available wherever possible in the country, including Uttarakhand and the Himalayan region.The CM had later said that Uttarakhand has a huge potential for seaplane mode of transport as it has big water bodies like Tehri lake and Nainital lake. The cost of each seaplane would be about Rs 13 crore.After Modi’s seaplane journey to Mehsana district on the last day of campaigning for the Gujarat assembly elections on Tuesday, Gadkari had said that would revolutionize the transport sector of the country.