Move To Put Tourism On Concurrent List Irks States

The Centres proposal to place tourism in the concurrent list has drawn sharp reaction from some states, including Andhra Pradesh. The move is being viewed as interference by the Centre in matters which are the prerogative of the states.

Inaugurating the conference of state tourism ministers in the Capital yesterday, tourism minister Srikant Jena, referring to the Centres move, sought the suggestions of the state tourism ministers.

Jena also said that there was a perception and major criticism that the tourism industry was being regarded as a cash cow for taxation by several state governments. In response to the Centres move to group tourism in the concurrent list, quite a few of the state government representatives expressed dismay if this came through.

 

Andhra Pradeshs minister for information, public relations and tourism Tammineni Seetharam said, Such a proposal is against the spirit of decentralisation and demand for devolution of powers to the states. He feels that the Centre should play the role of a catalyst in building infrastructure for the promotion of tourism. He said the national level focus should be on coordination with all the concerned agencies and state governments to realise the potential of tourism in the country.

Jena also asked state governments to ensure that the tax burden faced by the tourism industry was reasonable as there was a decline in private investment and the tariffs for tourist facilities were very high owing to the high taxation.

The states have to look into this issue very seriously and ensure that the level of taxation is reasonable and does not create an image of India as a high cost destination, Jena said. The tourism minister asked the state governments to speed up necessary clearances for tourism projects and do so at one place to remove the hurdles confronting investors in various states.

Tourism-friendly policies should be adopted by the states to tackle problems like non-availability of land at reasonable rates, multiplicity of clearances required for setting up hotels and lack of basic infrastructure, Jena said.

The minister also suggested that states should identify land for putting up tourism projects and make them available to prospective investors on reasonable terms, if not on easy terms.

The tourism ministers conference, which is being held after a gap of two years, will deliberate on the draft national tourism policy role of state governments in infrastructure development as well as speedy implementation of Centrally assisted projects. and preparation of master plans for tourism development.

The New Delhi conference assumes significance due to the fact that tourism is slated to the most important industry in 21st century.

The minister said a board of the tourism industry and trade, with representatives of various infrastructural ministries, industry associations and members of Parliament, is being set up at the Central level to achieve coordinated development of tourism.

Tourism is at present Indias third largest foreign exchange earner after readymade garments and gem and jewellery. As per available estimates, the total employment generated by the tourism industry is about 20 million.

According to the World Tourism Organisation over six million international tourists are likely to visit South Asia by 2000 A.D.