Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Maharashtra Minister for Tourism Jaykumar Rawal today called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed wide range of issues, including the possible future plans to promote tourism collaboration between Maharashtra and the eight States of North-Eastern region.
Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed to Jaykumar that among the series of new initiatives undertaken by the Modi government in the Northeast, one of them is the decision to set up a Film & Television Institute in Arunachal Pradesh. He said, the vast scenic beauty of Northeast has remained unexplored by the film industry and this is because of poor facilities for carrying and storing film shooting equipment as well as the constraints of connectivity. With the setting up of local film institute in the region and improvement in connectivity, he said, these constraints can be taken care of to a great extent.
Among the various suggestions made by Dr Jitendra Singh, one was to have exclusive tourist circuits between Maharashtra and Northeast separately devoted to different “themes”. For example, there could be a religious tourism circuit enabling the pilgrims to visit religious spots like Shirdi in Maharashtra and Kamakhya in Assam in a single itinerary. Similarly, the holiday circuit or the heritage circuit could connect spots like Elephanta Caves with some of the popular heritage spots in Meghalaya and Sikkim. At the same time, he said, while the people of Northeast could find it fascinating to explore the different moods of sea beach and ocean in Mumbai, for Maharashtrians, States like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya could offer wide range of landscapes, meadows and mountain ranges.
Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to the steps being taken to increase the connectivity and disclosed that the Ministry of DoNER is contributing to upgrade the air-track at Shillong airport, while the work on Sikkim’s Pakyong airport is in progress. Another important connection to which the Ministry of DoNER is also contributing would be the train to Bangladesh from Tripura which will simultaneously give boost to trade, business and tourism, he added.
Jaykumar appreciated the keen and focused interest taken by Dr Jitendra Singh for the promotion of tourism and invited him to Mumbai where Government of Maharashtra could organize an event to promote the unknown facets of Northeast. He also agreed to the suggestion to assign the Delhi-based Maharashtra Resident Commissioner and other concerned officers from Government of Maharashtra to sit with the officers in the Ministry of DoNER and work out a long-term collaborative tourism promotion plan for Maharashtra and Northeast.
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