Budget puts J&K, North Eastern states right on top

Bhavika Jhaveri - Mumbai

2006-’07

Jammu & Kashmir and the North Eastern states welcomed the Union Budget 2006-’07 for providing further assistance to boost infrastructure for tourism development in both regions. The North East region received major boost with regards to road transport. A special accelerated road development programme for the North Eastern region at an estimated cost of Rs 4,618 crore has been approved, with allocation of Rs 550 crore in 2006-07. The Minister for Department of Development of North East Region (DONER), P R Kyndiah, reacting positively to the budgetary allocation, said, "It's been fair," referring to the 10 per cent of plan budget meant for the North East region. From the total budget allocation for NER i.e. Rs 12,041 crore, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) has received Rs 1,350 crore. DONER will also receive an additional allocation of Rs 4870 crores under flagship programmes. Kyndiah mentioned, "The focus will be on building infrastructure for the region in terms of connectivity, which will be crucial for development of tourism sector in the region." He expressed hope on the kind of projects that will come under the national highway development programme, which would benefit DONER. "We are directly looking at air connectivity of the region with state capitals along with road link ups," he remarked.

Welcoming this announcement, N C Sinha, IAS, commissioner & secretary, tourism department, Government of Tripura, said, "The increase in budgetary allocation for the North Eastern region will help the tourism sector in the region in a big way. Lack of infrastructure is a serious bottleneck for promotion of tourism in the region. But the increase in budgetary allocation will help in setting up infrastructure in these states which in turn will help the tourism sector in the entire North Eastern region," he continued. "In Tripura, we have been unable to develop the important and popular tourist sites in the state due to paucity of funds. But after the proposed increase in the budgetary allocation, we feel that we can take up the development and promotion of these tourist spots, which will help increase the flow of inbound tourists not only from the neighbouring states but from neighbouring Bangladesh too. We have a direct bus-service from Agartala to Dhaka in Bangladesh."

Reiterating this, Suresh Chandra Panda, IAS, Commissioner & Secretary, Tourism Department, Government of Assam, remarked, "As tourism is one of the major industries in the North East, so, the Union Ministry of Tourism has taken up several steps to promote tourism in the region. The ministry has sanctioned several projects and tourism circuits/spots in the region. The Department of North Eastern Region has initiated several tourism infrastructure projects in the region."

In Jammu and Kashmir, the budget announced special plan assistance for 2006-07 fixed at Rs 2,300 crore. In addition, a sum of Rs 848 crore for the J&K Reconstruction Plan, including Rs 230 crore for the Baglihar Project. Apart, from this the J&K has a total tourism budget of approximately Rs 300 crore for 2005-2006 which is slated to increase next year.

Expressing his satisfaction, M Saleem Beg, director general, Department of Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir, said, "We welcome this announcement. It was a critical requirement for tourism in J&K. We are hoping to get Rs 200 crore for the development of tourism. The infrastructure, much of which has been damaged over the last 15 years, needs restoration to cater to a wide spectrum of travellers. There are rooms, but we need quality rooms, better roads and so on. We are hoping that the announcement would help facilitate revival of tourism."

"Airports out here have been upgraded (modernised) and on the railway front, the state has definite plans like extension of tracks and that would be achieved in due course," Beg further added.

With inputs from Sanjeev Bhar, Joy Roy Choudhary