A parliamentary committee has confirmed that of a total of 45 projects sanctioned under the Ministry of Tourism's Prashad scheme, “only 20 have been completed” and that “progress is very slow”. he pointed out.
The committee also recommended that the Ministry of Tourism may “evolve its own mechanism” to collect data on the arrival of domestic and international tourists and all other data related to the tourism sector.
The panel report on the action taken by the government on the committee's findings contained in the Ministry of Tourism's Subsidy Demand Report (2023-24) was published in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The Ministry of Tourism launched the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) and the Swadesh Darshan scheme in 2014-15 to improve infrastructure at tourist destinations, including religious sites, across the country.
Regarding the PRASHAD scheme, the panel said in its report, “A total of 45 projects have been sanctioned under the scheme, of which only 20 have been completed.” His nine projects based on this plan are still awaiting completion, with only ~60% progress. There are still 16 projects under development under this plan. ”
Given the fact that the scheme was launched in 2014-2015, “progress is very slow”, the committee warned.
The parliamentary committee also noted that there is “at least a year's delay” in both completed and ongoing projects under the Prashad government.
“Some projects like the development of Mathura-Vrindavan in UP as a mega-tourist circuit (Ph-II) and the basic facilities of Vishnupad temple in Gaya, Bihar are delayed by four years.” “The Board also observes that some of the goals of the October 2021 EFC proposal related to this plan have not been achieved,” the report said.
The commission said in its report that the “reliability of the data presented in publications, whatever the source,” is the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism.
“The Department should not release the data in the public domain unless and until it is satisfied with the accuracy of the data,” the report said.
The committee recommended that the Ministry of Tourism may “evolve its own mechanisms” to collect data on the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists and all other data related to the tourism sector. he added.
The committee also recommended that the tourism ministry should take all steps to “ensure that the data received from the ASI and state governments is accurate.”
The committee also said in its report that it was “surprised that although the Ministry of Tourism has proposed 17 destinations as iconic destinations, the government has not approved the proposals.” Ta.
The committee recommended that the government take a decision on the proposals “as soon as possible”.
The committee said in its report that the ministry submitted that a standard tourism methodology has been developed in line with UNWTO for comprehensive and uniform collection of tourism statistics from all districts.
It also said “separate budgetary allocation” should have been maintained for major year-round events such as the G20, which are expected to have a significant impact on India's tourism industry.
The committee further said that the Ministry of Tourism plans to leverage India's G20 Presidency this year to promote both domestic and inbound tourism. However, as the Overseas Public Relations and Publicity Plan “has not yet been approved,” the ministry can only carry out important and unavoidable activities at this stage.
“The committee feels that this will set back the department's plans for a global campaign for promotion. The committee notes that all eight functioning overseas promotion offices have been closed. The ministry has not specified any method in this regard, although it has said that other promotional methods are being used. “We are making sure that officials are appointed,” the report said.
The committee said the ministry “must not miss the opportunity” presented by the G20 meeting and the Visit India promotion campaign, and ensured that a roadmap for overseas promotion is in place before the start of the next financial year. I suggested that it should be done. You can use that budget.
The commission said it was happy to see the ministry's initiative to take up the issue of selecting 25 tourist destinations as a pilot project for forming separate police forces in states and UTs.
However, to date, only 14 states have some form of tourism police, the commission said, adding that it is working with other states to create and deploy tourism police at destinations in the region. It recommended that the ministry continue.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
