Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board creates land bank to boost tourism

The Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) has reportedly created a land bank with the aim of giving a major boost to tourism in the state.

The recently created MPTB has procured above 849.077 hectares of land at 144 places in 49 districts of the state. Besides this, at 71 points, an additional 432 hectares of land has been identified for procurement and transfer to the state's Department of Tourism.

A further 60 hectares of land has been allotted to 16 private investors and this has generated a premium of Rs 23.50 crore.

Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) Surendra Patwa has said that Madhya Pradesh has been segregated into five tourism regions and potential of private investment has been identified.

For instance, in the Indore region, the areas identified for tourism are Indore, Dhar, Khanwa, Burhanpur, Khargone, Badwani, Alirajpur, Jhabua, Ujjain, Ratlam and Dewas, to name a few.

In the Jabalpur region, areas identified include Jabalpur, Katni, Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Seoni, Mandla, Balaghat, Dindori, Shahdol, Umaria and Anuppur district.

In the Bhopal region, land has been transferred in Bhopal, Sihore, Rajgarh, Vidisha, Raisen, Hoshangabad, Betul and Harda districts.

In the Gwalior region, Gwalior, Guna, Shivpuri, Ashok Nagar, Sheopur, Morena, Bhind and Teekamgarh have been identified by the MPTB.

In the Rewa region, districts of Rewa, Sidhi, Satna, Singrauli, Sagar, Chhatarpur, Panna and Damoh have been identified for tourism development.

Groups like Mahendra Holiday, Orange County, State Express, Jahanuma Palce Hotel, Gen-X Hotel, Sristi Ventures are involved in the private investment process in the tourism sector.