Arun Singh
Jammu, Oct 28: The height of mismanagement and ill planning of Tourism Department Jammu can be gauged from the fact that after failing to run its existing Tourist Complex at Rajouri District which was constructed at the expenditure of Rs 55 lakhs, the department has taken up construction of another Tourist Reception Center at Kotranka.
Sources in the department told Early Times that Rajouri Development Authority had constructed Tourist Complex at Kandi at the expenditure of Rs 55 lakhs during 2012-13 to boost tourism in the area but department failed to put the complex in use due to lack of tourist activity. "The Kandi area, despite having vast tourism potential, Rajouri Development Authority could not attract the tourists to this place, due to its failure to develop its adjoining areas for the tourists," they said further adding that after incuring huge amount of the tax payers' hard earned money, the Tourist Complex has been lying defunct.
Shockingly, Rajouri Development Authority, instead of taking remedial measures to make functional already existing Tourist Complex at Kandi, authority took up another project for the construction of Tourist Reception Center (TRC) at Kotranka at the estimated cost of Rs 50 lakh during 2012-13, sources revealed.
Moreover the apathetic attitude of Tourism Department Jammu, it had not maintained any data regarding number of tourists who visited new tourist destinations viz Sarthal, Basohli, Bani, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar etc. and number of tourists who stayed there for at least 24 hours to ascertain the impact of investment made for promotion of tourism, sources informed.
The department, which has made several unfruitful expenditure, did not have any appropriate system of counting the tourists on its own visiting tourist destinations of the State and the data is based on number of people visiting there by destinations of the state and the data is based on number of people visiting there by airlines and through buses and taxies which was not reliable as the local people also travel through airlines, buses and taxies, they said. |
