Rs. 43 Cr far to meet Nagaland’s tourism pitch at 157 Cr

EMN
Dimapur, March 2

Approximately 43 crore has been released by the central government to Nagaland as part of concurrent tourism development projects for the state totaling sanctions of 157 crore for four years.
The Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance to state governments/union territory administrations for various tourism projects subject to availability of funds, liquidation of pending utilization certificates against the funds released earlier, and adherence to relevant scheme guidelines.Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (independent charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma offered the information during a session in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, March 2.
The figures include the projects sectioned under the plan schemes of ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Prasad’ in 2014-2015.
Under the plan scheme ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Prasad’ the Ministry of Tourism provides central Financial Assistance to state governments / union territory administrations, the minister said in his reply, Under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, thirteen thematic circuits have been identified, for development namely: North-East India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit.
Under the Prasad scheme, thirteen sites have been identified for development, namely: Amritsar, Ajmer, Dwaraka, Mathura, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Amaravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankanni, Kedarnath, Kamakhya and Patna.
Under the ‘PRASAD’ scheme the focus is on development and beautification of the identified pilgrimage destinations. Whereas, in the ‘Spiritual Circuit’ identified under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, the thrust is on development of particular thematic circuit consisting of various religious/spiritual destinations in a state or a union territory.
In pursuance to the budget announcements of 2014-2015, both the schemes were launched in January 2015. The projects sanctioned under the schemes are generally commissioned in 18 to 36 months.
During the year 2015-2016 under Budget Estimates Rs.100.00 crore and Rs.600.00 crore have been allocated for PRASAD and Swadesh Darshan schemes respectively to develop tourist destinations of global standards. The details of projects sanctioned during the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 under both the schemes are annexed.
The details of State/UT-wise, circuit-wise and city-wise funds sanctioned and released under the above schemes are given below.
Details of projects sanctioned under Swadesh Darshan and PRASAD schemes from 2014-2015 for northeastern region states till date.