JAIPUR: Despite having about a dozen world-renowned archaeological sites, none of them figured in the list of five announced by finance minister Nirmala Sithraman to develop iconic sites in the country.
During her Budget speech, Sitharaman named Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) which would be turned around as iconic sites with on-site museums.
Disappointed that none of the sites from Rajasthan like Kalibangan, a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley civilization, found the favour, people engaged in the tourism industry said that politics plays part in such decisions.
“When you don’t have your party running the government at the Centre, it is obvious that your state’s interests may not get the same weight,” said a tour operator.
The finance minister said that she expects the state governments to develop a roadmap for certain identified destinations and formulate financial plans during 2021 against which specified grants will be made available to the states in 2020-21.
But there are three proposals for developing three tourist circuits which have been submitted to the Union tourism ministry but till now, none of the projects have been sanctioned.
“Three plans for ecotourism, desert tourism and tribal tourism have been submitted to the Centre around two-and-a-half-year ago. Each proposal has estimated a budget of Rs 100 crore. But none has been sanctioned so far,” said an official at the state tourism department.
The finance minister said that for purpose of tourism promotion, she has proposed to allocate Rs 2,500 crore for 2020-21.
During her Budget speech, Sitharaman named Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) which would be turned around as iconic sites with on-site museums.
Disappointed that none of the sites from Rajasthan like Kalibangan, a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley civilization, found the favour, people engaged in the tourism industry said that politics plays part in such decisions.
“When you don’t have your party running the government at the Centre, it is obvious that your state’s interests may not get the same weight,” said a tour operator.
The finance minister said that she expects the state governments to develop a roadmap for certain identified destinations and formulate financial plans during 2021 against which specified grants will be made available to the states in 2020-21.
But there are three proposals for developing three tourist circuits which have been submitted to the Union tourism ministry but till now, none of the projects have been sanctioned.
“Three plans for ecotourism, desert tourism and tribal tourism have been submitted to the Centre around two-and-a-half-year ago. Each proposal has estimated a budget of Rs 100 crore. But none has been sanctioned so far,” said an official at the state tourism department.
The finance minister said that for purpose of tourism promotion, she has proposed to allocate Rs 2,500 crore for 2020-21.
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