Tourism Committee to come up in all districts

Kolkata: The state Tourism department is coming up with a District Tourism Committee (DTC) in all 23 districts across the state, to ensure a hassle-free travel experience for domestic as well as international tourists.

"The DTC will have five members with the District Magistrate (DM) as the chairman, the District Information and Cultural Officer (DICO) as member secretary, another senior government official and two eminent persons from the district. The committee will ensure that tourists in their respective districts face no hassle during their visit and stay," said state Tourism minister Goutam Deb, while delivering his Budget speech for 2019-20 at the state Assembly on Tuesday.

The total budget in the Tourism sector for the ongoing fiscal is Rs 413.8 crore. The minister announced that the state government has taken up development of Nabadwip and Cooch Behar, which has been declared as a heritage site.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has assigned IIT Kharagpur the task to prepare a project report on the development of these sites, with special emphasis on its heritage," said Deb. The minister also announced his department's plan of projecting Gajoldoba in the Hills as one of the biggest tourism hubs in the country. "We have 208 acres of land at Gajoldoba, which will be developed into an integrated tourism hub," he added.

Among other tourism initiatives, Deb said that the government is planning to introduce cruise services till Mayapur connecting Belur Math, where the evening puja (popularly known as Sandhya Arati) is a huge draw for the people of the state.