Nagpur: Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance and Planning Minister, has asked the officers to prepare district-wise tourism circuit master plan for Nagpur Division. Accordingly, he has assured, the State will make available requisite funds for tourism development.
Pawar issued the directions and gave the assurance while virtually addressing a meeting called to take stock of the draft district annual plans for six districts in Nagpur Division, for the year 2024-25.
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Friday 31 Jan. 2025
Interacting with Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari and other officials through video conferencing on Monday, the State Finance and Planning Minister sought development of district-wise tourism circuits to bring in more visitors.
While reviving the district-wise annual plans of Nagpur division for 2024-25 and the cost of various schemes implemented under those, Pawar said adequate funds will be made available for tourism development in Vidarbha.
“Due to the presence of many tiger reserves, a large number of tourists flock the region to get a glimpse of the majestic beast, other wild animals and birds. It is necessary to create necessary facilities, including communication, for the visitors’ benefit. The Divisional Commissioner should prepare a tourism circuit development plan for a comprehensive review,” Pawar said.
Stating that funds would also be made available to include schemes in the district planning framework, the Baramati MLA said government aims to promote agriculture and allied services, skill development, industries based on forest products including bamboo, and small and rural industries. “We need to make efforts to increase private investment in the industrial sector along with tourism development. We need to focus on schemes that would actually give results. At the same time, we need to expedite work for setting up smart toilets and primary health centres,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Deputy CM was informed that Rs 1,558 crore was made available under the annual plan for Nagpur for 2023-24, of which Rs 614 crore was spent till January 5 this year, which comes to 39.41% spending. Pawar directed Nagpur District Collector Vipin Itankar to spend the remaining amount on development schemes before February end.
Various provisions earmarked in the draft plan for 2024-25 for Nagpur, Bhandara, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gondia and Gadchiroli districts of the division were reviewed during the meeting.
Officials informed the Deputy Chief Minister that a budget of Rs 1,506 crore was earmarked for the six districts with a special provision of Rs 83 crore for urban areas development. There is an additional demand of Rs 4,601 crore from the districts, but the government has allotted regular expenditure of Rs 1, 423 crore for the division.
During the meeting, Ajit Pawar said that tourists in big numbers visited the tiger projects in Nagpur Division. Hence, it is essential to create necessary infrastructure including transport and communication facilities. He asked the Divisional Commissioner of Nagpur to prepare a comprehensive tourism circuit development plan. Apart from tourism, private sector investment should come to the industries in Nagpur Division. The schemes to increase the per capita income of people through agriculture and allied services, skill development, bamboo and other forest produce based industries, encouragement to village and cottage industries should be submitted, he said.
Vijayalakshmi Bidari, Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur; Dhananjay Sutey, Deputy Commissioner (Planning), joined from Nagpur. Sudhir Mungantiwar, Guardian Minister for Chandrapur and Wardha districts; Dr Vijaykumar Gavit, Guardian Minister of Bhandara; Dharmaraobaba Atram, Guardian Minister of Gondia, also joined the meeting from respective places. The District Collectors, Chief Executive Officers of Zilla Parishads, and District Planning Officers from respective districts briefed the Finance Minister on annual plans for respective districts.
