Lucknow,  The Uttar Pradesh government is formulating a new eco-tourism policy and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given the necessary instructions for setting up of an EcoTourism Board.

According to the government spokesman, the chief minister has said that the tourism department should be the nodal agency of the proposed EcoTourism Board.

Ministers of the concerned departments, Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Director General and Director as well as qualified officers and experts of the Indian Forest Service should also be included.

Mukesh Meshram, Principal Secretary Tourism, said, "In totality, for the planned development of the tourism sector in the state in 2018, the tourism policy has mentioned many places in the ecotourism circuit. According to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, basic facilities are being developed at all these places for the convenience of the tourists.

Moreover, the branding is also being done so that the maximum number of tourists come here and enjoy nature."

Eligible youth will be selected and trained as 'nature guides' from the local people in ecotourism, wildlife and other forestry works. The villages situated in the middle of the forests inhabited by wild animals will also be properly settled with their consent.

Places with confluence of nature, culture and adventure will become the centre of attraction for tourists from all over the country and across the world.

Irrigation, Forest, AYUSH, Rural Development and other related departments will have an important participation in this preparation along with the tourism department.

Meshram said that Uttar Pradesh is abundantly rich in terms of natural beauty and according to an estimate, about 35 per cent of the tourists prefer to go on eco-holidays with all the basic facilities available there.

The lowland region of the state is very rich in terms of biological diversity. The dense forests here are the natural habitat of tigers, elephants, deer, crocodiles, dolphins and many species of endangered birds due to the abundant water resources available in them.

The forests of Dudhwa, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri and Katarnia Ghat are the storehouses of biological diversity. Every year a large number of tourists from all over the country and abroad come to see this biological diversity.

Similarly, the Fossil Park of Sonbhadra, which preserves the history of the beginning of human life, also attracts tourists interested in knowing the history of nature. The 150-million-year-old fossils here are the subject of research for the world.

Spread over 25 hectares, this Fossil Park is bigger than Yellowstone Park in America. This is the reason it is included in the largest fossil park in the world.

Along with the conservation of heritage trees, the Kukrail picnic spot in Lucknow is also being improved further.