Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) To resolve inter-ministerial and industry issues and to promote tourism, the government has set up an inter-ministerial coordination committee for the sector under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji.

A Prime Minister’s Office release said here Friday that Pulok Chatterji presided over the first meeting of the committee on Thursday and secretaries to government of important ministries were present.

At the meeting, Chatterji said tourism should be seen as development, it should be pro-poor and focus on employment creation.

He emphasised the need to give tourism a major fillip during the 12th Plan so as to more than double the number of foreign tourists arriving in India and further encourage domestic tourism.

The meeting decided to create a sub-committee of Planning Commission, and secretaries of culture, environment and forests, and tourism that will identify potential of tourism in rural, ecology and cultural sectors and submit a report within four weeks.

It also decided that the Ministry of Environment and Forests should finalise its eco-tourism policy at the earliest possible time, duly analysing the feedback it has received from different quarters.

It is imperative that all local stake-holders are involved in promoting eco-tourism.

Among the other decisions were that the culture ministry, in close coordination with tourism ministry, should adopt a pro-active tourism policy, which should promote museums, cultural and heritage sites, besides monuments.

The home ministry has been asked to take steps to facilitate extension of tourist visa on arrival to Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bangalore airports within next year. A coordination committee consisting of joint secretaries of home, external affairs and tourism has been constituted to resolve day-to-day visa related complaints.

The defence ministry’s border roads organisation has been asked to expedite ongoing work at Gangtok and Leh roads which are tentatively scheduled to be completed by 2014 and 2015 respectively.