Tourism circuit master plan Ajit Pawar seeks district-wise blueprint for Nagpur Divn
| Date :09-Jan-2024 |
Staff Reporter
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, 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. The meeting was held on Monday. State Government has set the ceiling of Rs 1,423 crore for district plans in Nagpur Division. For the six districts in Nagpur Division, the collective size of proposed annual plans is Rs 1,506 crore. This includes Rs 83 crore special provision for urban areas. Besides, there is additional demand of Rs 4,598 crore, it was stated.
Under the district annual plans for the year 2023-24, the districts in Nagpur Division got Rs 1,558 crore. Of this, an amount of only Rs 614 crore could be utilised till January 5, 2024. Raising concerns over only 39.41 per cent utilisation of allocated funds till the said date, Ajit Pawar asked the officials concerned to expedite utilisation of the funds. The authorities of the respective districts submitted their additional demands for the year 2024-25 for consideration of State-level Planning Committee. During the meeting, Ajit Pawar said that tourists in big numbers visited the tiger projects in Nagpur Division. Hence, it is essencial 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. He assured to make available adequate funds for this. Priority should be accorded to implementation of the schemes that produce visible results, he added. Also, he asked the officials to complete works of smart school, smart healthcare centres etc. 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.