GUWAHATI, March 8 � The Opposition today pulled up the State Government for doing little to tap the State's enormous tourism potential, arguing that other States within the country as well as nations with less potential were making rapid strides in tourism through publicity blitzkrieg and infrastructure development.
Initiating the discussion on the cut motion on the supplementary demand for grant of Rs 16,46,16,000 for the State's tourism, Sushil Dutta (BJP) said that tourism could be a big boost for the economy, and advocated equal thrust on the different tourist destinations for sustainable and overall development of the sector.
Dr Aditya Langthasa, while asserting that once completed the four-lane highway and the two-way rail road would help the tourism sector grow, said that a thriving tourism could generate large-scale employment in the State which officially had an alarming 16 lakh unemployed youths. He also felt that a better law and order situation was a basic condition for the growth of tourism.
Jyoti Prasad Das (AGP) called for a survey to identify the areas with potential and address the existing drawbacks. He said that the State's traditional food, brew, and handloom and handicraft items could be effectively used to attract tourists.
Regretting that the State's unique potential - much more than many other destinations in States within the country and abroad - had not been projected and developed in the right manner, Drupad Borgohain (CPI), referring to a recent news item in an Assamese daily, said that the alleged selling of over 300 rhino horns by the Forest Department could have an adverse impact on the Kaziranga National Park. He also opposed the use of historical Ahom era tanks for fishery purposes.
Girindra Baruah (AGP) said that neighbouring Arunachal had been making good progress in tourism in the past few years but Assam had not shown the same zeal in tourism promotion. "Arunachal had done lots of publicity, and the shooting of the Hindi film Koyla in its picturesque locales boosted its tourism to a great extent," he said, adding that deplorable road conditions to major destinations such as Bardowa, the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, and Manas National Park, had been perennial deterrents in tourism promotion. He also said that growing encroachments on government land near Kaziranga National Park was posing a threat to the security of the park.
Ananta Deka (CPI-M) underscored the need for a coordinated and integrated approach from the State Government, Centre, DoNER and the NEC for long-term development of the tourism sector. "We need to promote tourism-related enterprises on the private-public partnership mode besides containing the highly-exaggerated law and order propaganda outside the State," he said.
The speakers, who also included Brindaban Goswami (AGP), Nurul Hussain (AGP), Mahibul Haque (associate Congress member), Ramendra Narayan Kalita (AGP) and Mission Ranjan Das (BJP), were unanimous that poor planning, infrastructure bottlenecks and dearth of publicity were the major factors behind the stagnant tourism sector. They said that Guwahati - which could have been developed as a beautiful planed city with its forests, hills and water bodies -- itself was proof of the Government's lack of vision.
Replying to the debate, State Tourism Minister Rockybul Hussain said lack of funds was the main hurdle in the promotion of tourism but that the situation had improved greatly in the past few years. "When we came to power, the budgetary allocation for the Tourism Department was a meagre Rs 4 crore of which Rs 3 crore was spent in paying salary. But now we are in a position to develop a single Buddhist circuit at a cost of Rs 6 crore," he said, adding that a number of tourist circuits would be promoted with Central funds in the coming days.
The Minister said that the increased flow in the number of both domestic and foreign tourists to the State indicated that tourism was gaining ground. "From 10 lakh domestic tourists and 6,000 foreign tourists in 2001, the footfall reached 36 lakh domestic tourists and 14,000 foreign tourists in 2009," he said.
Hussain said that infrastructure development was a key component of tourism promotion, and amenities in a number of destinations, including religious shrines, had been developed in the recent past.
The House later passed the demand for the grant by a voice vote.
