Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that the Government will not run business, which is the reason it offloaded the hospitality business mainly ITDC Ashoka Hotels while retaining only the New Delhi property but not for long, said K J Alphons, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture and Tourism. He was in Dhamtari on Friday to launch the ‘Tribal Tourism Circuit’ under Swadesh Darshan Scheme at Pt Ravishankar Reservoir premises. The Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) would have to privatise these cottages so as to pave way for construction of 100 more cottages so that the venture becomes viable, otherwise the State government would have be regularly infuse funds in the venture, Alphons said.
On question of retaining the villages in ethnic form in Tribal Circuit, he said no one can stop modernization of villages comparing the state of Kerala. He said each village of Kerala has all urban facilities, similarly, the villages would transform; now only one thing connects all, is the internet. So, nothing will stop. “Yes, Chhattisgarh will be retaining few ethnic tribal villages mainly in districts of Kondagaon and Jashpur,” he pointed out.
“‘Ram-gaman-Marg’ is a proposal given by different states including Uttar Pradesh. It can bring in domestic tourists but not foreign. For accepting the proposal, there should be required funds; how much footprints is expected and it should provide enhanced experience to the tourists,” Alphons said. “The target is to increase domestic tourist traffic but also maximise foreign tourist traffic. It makes no sense, if resources are deployed and there is no result. There should be viability,” he pointed out.
Even every state cannot be given similar projects; it depends on resources available with the Ministry and State-wise requirement. Recently it was found that Jharkhand and Punjab did not have any tourism project on which they were asked to send proposal and was accepted after necessary modification. One state cannot be allocated maximum projects. So equity has to be maintained, he added.
In Chhattisgarh, the religious circuit of Ma Bambleshwari at a cost of Rs 50 crore has been asked for final proposal after due modification, he said.