Responsible/Sustainable Tourism
Ahilya Fort uses solar energy for the kitchen and laundry. The rooms are too scattered to make it viable to provide energy for the rest of the fort.
They have plans to increase solar capacity to light the public areas and paths in the fort. An organic vegetable garden provides vegetables for the hotel, as well as an organic farm providing the hotel’s wheat and lentils. They have an energy plantation for organic fire wood production, making them self sufficient.
The owners are deeply involved in the conservation of Maheshwar’s heritage, and UNESCO and the French government are also involved. The UNESCO involvement means Maheshwar is chosen as one of the 18 ‘Indian Heritage Cities Network’ and also has a UNESCO promoted heritage walk. Under an agreement signed between the French and Indian governments, Maheshwar and Chinon will cooperate in heritage based projects and exchange programs.
The Rehwa Society is an NGO founded by the Holkars (owning family) in 1978, with the ambitious objective of improving the lives of Maheshwar’s handloom weavers, giving women employment, by reviving and popularizing the Maheshwari textile tradition. This not-for-profit Society utilizes its surpluses exclusively for the welfare of Maheshwar’s weavers. One of the Society’s marked successes is the Ahilya School, also founded by the Rehwa Society, in 1989, with an initial supporting grant from the German aid organization, BORDA.
