NorthEastern states: Rs 14.56 bn for tourism

The Ministry of Tourism is focussing on development and promotion of tourism in the North-Eastern region. For development, the Ministry under the Swadesh Drashan and PRASHAD Schemes has sanctioned 18 projects covering all the North-Eastern States for Rs 14.56 billion, informed Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Culture and Tourism. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, he shared:

The Ministry of Tourism undertakes various activities for the promotion of North-Eastern region of the country as a tourist destination. These activities include:

(i) Release of television campaigns on Doordarshan and private channels in the country.

(ii) Production of publicity material, creatives and television commercials/promotional films on the region.

(iii) The NorthEast region is the theme of the India Pavilion set up by the Ministry at the South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in which the Ministry participates annually.

(iv) Complementary space is provided to the North-Eastern States for their participation in the India Pavilion set up by the Ministry at major international travel fairs and exhibitions.

(v) The Ministry organises an annual International Tourism Mart in the North-Eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region.

The projects under the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD schemes are identified for development in consultation with the State Governments / Union Territory Administrations and are sanctioned subject to availability of funds, submission of suitable detailed project reports, adherence to scheme guidelines and utilization of funds released earlier. Submission of project proposals by the State Governments and its sanctioning is a continuous process.

The details of projects sanctioned to Assam under above schemes are as follows:

Ministry has also identified Kaziranga as one of the 17 sites for development in the country under the Development of Iconic Tourist site scheme.