Faridabad: Match held to highlight govt apathy towards the lake threatened by rampant mining, colonisation

A Cricket match on the dry bed of the Badkhal Lake was stalled by angry authorities of the Haryana Government and local political leaders.

Untapped potential

HUGH & COLLEEN GANTZER

Rural tourism is intended to energise local skills, economy and grassroots development. Judging by Pranpur in Madhya Pradesh, it seems to be working well, in parts.

Leaving aside the many shortfalls in the accommodation, we found much in Pranpur that would provide fascinating experiential encounters with village lifestyles.

New Delhi: With the tourist arrivals in the country showing a marked slowdown in the past few months on account of the global financial crisis and, to an extent, the Mumbai Terror attacks, India is almost certain to fall short of its target of receiving 10 million visitors by 2010.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has decided to grant an extension of the repayment period by two years and the grace period by one year for the loans granted to Tsunami affected tourism sector related projects under Susahana and Small Business Revival Programme (SBRP) loan schemes implemented by the CBSL.

PARADIP: The tourism and cultural heritage of Jagatsinghpur district is all set to get a facelift.

The State Government has decided to spend Rs 8 crore for the purpose. It includes a tourist complex at circuit house in Jagatsinghpur.

Khurali village in Hoshiarpur district, associated with the great saint of medieval India, Guru Ravidass, is all set to become a rural tourism destination village.

Encouraged by the response to its rural tourism project, the Government has identified 14 more village sites which would be opened for foreign tourists in the near future. Spread over six states, these new sites would add to the 15 model villages that already exist and are attracting an impressive number of tourists.

The Minister of Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni has said that the development and promotion of tourism is primarily undertaken by the State Governments/Union territories themselves. However, the Ministry of Tourism provides financial asistance for development of tourism infrastructure on the basis of project proposals received from the State Government/Union Territories.

Projecting the North-east as an ideal destination was a priority with the Union Tourism Ministry, and the region has of late been receiving enhanced Central assistance for tourism development. Revealing this, S Banerjee, Secretary, Union Ministry of Tourism, today told the media that while the north-eastern States received an amount of Rs 319 crore for tourism infrastructure development during the Tenth Plan, an amount of Rs 169 crore was released in the year 2007-08 alone.