The Union government’s decision to develop 17 “iconic tourism sites” in the country into world-class destinations has worried the Odisha Tourism Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi as none of the world-famous tourism destinatios of the state has found a place in the list. For which the minister, on Tuesday requested the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to negotiate with the centre regarding the issue.
Indicating the fact that Odisha, grabbing world-interest for so long with tourist destinations like Konark Sun Temple, Puri Jagannath Temple and many more, yet failing to find a place in the list released by the centre, the Tourism Minister said, “Odisha has places like Konark Sun Temple, a World Heritage Site, Bhitarkanika, Chilika, Buddhist circuit and Similipal biosphere which have great tourism potential at par with the sites selected by the Centre. One or two such sites should have been selected.”
Recently, during its Budget 2019-20, the Union government of India has announced to develop 17 sites as iconic tourist destinations with focus on connectivity, infrastructure and facilities for visitors.
According to the minister, a few days back, during his meeting with the Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Prahalad Singh Patel at New Delhi, he discussed about the development of tourism sector of the State.
But being over looked by the centre on such an important issue, he expressed his dismay and said, “Though more than one spot has been selected from other states, it is disappointing to find Odisha is ignored. I have requested the Chief Minister to take up the matter with the Union Government for inclusion of one or two tourist places from the State in the iconic destinations list.”
Meanwhile, supporting the sentiments of Odia people, Puri district MP Pinaki Misra has also intimated the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Union Tourism Ministers with separate letters and urges them to incorporate a couple of major tourist destinations of the State, into the developmantal programme.
The tourism sites those come under this Iconic Tourist Sites Development Project are :
* Uttar Pradesh’s Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri
* New Delhi’s Red Fort, Qutub Minar and Humayun’s Tomb
* Maharashtra’s Ajanta and Ellora
* Madhya Pradesh”s Khajuraho
* Karnataka’s Hampi
* Goa’s Colva beach
* Gujarat’s Somnath and Dholavira
* Tamil Nadu’s Mahabalipuram
* Assam’s Kaziranga
* Bihar’s Mahabodhi
* Rajasthan’s Amer Fort
* Kerala’s Kumarakom
The point that is worth mentioning here is that, with its enormous treasure of ancient sites of tourist importance, Odisha happens to be one of the great contributors to the country’s tourism sector as in last year the state recorded 1.5 crore tourist arrivals.
