The Hindu : Khurana for developing spiritual tourism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

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National

Khurana for developing spiritual tourism

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MARCH 20 . The Rajasthan Governor, Madan Lal Khurana, is all set to go ahead with his programme of developing the centres of spiritual tourism in the State.

The absence of finances had affected the sprucing up of these destinations. Funds sanctioned over a period of time had been lying unutilised, as in the case of Pushkar and the Dargah at Ajmer, he said.

"After my visits to these places I found that funds sanctioned during the time of I. K. Gujral as Prime Minister and my time as a Minister are lying unutilised,'' Mr. Khurana told mediapersons here today.

"We don't need to look for funds. They are already there. A coordination committee has to be set up. I will ask the Central Government to earmark the existing funds for the period from 2004-05 so that the work can be undertaken in the coming year,'' he said.

Places such as Pushkar Dargah Sharief, Ajmer, the Prithviraj Chouhan Memorial on the Taragarh hills (Ajmer) and the Haldighati valley in Rajsamand where Maharana Pratap fought his historic battle, have funds sanctioned but they are lying unutilised, reportedly due to lack of coordination between the Central Public Works Department and the State and local agencies.

The Governor said the Shreenathji temple at Nathadwara, seat of the Pushtimargi Vallab sect, was also in the list of places to be developed.

"However Jagmohan, Union Minister for Tourism, whom I had consulted, has advised me to take up Pushkar first as it takes time for any such intervention in Nathadwara which is administered by a trust,'' he said.

Mr. Khurana said Pushkar, a few kilometres from the district town of Ajmer, and the Dargah together have unutilised government funds to the tune of Rs.10.08 crores.

In 1997, when Mr. Gujral was the Prime Minister, Rs. 3 crores was sanctioned for the development of Udaipur, Haldighati, Gokunda and Eklingji.

However, only a few lakhs of rupees have been spent so far.

The funds were for developing the places associated with Maharana Pratap such as Haldighati valley, Chetak Samadhi (memorial for his legendary horse, Chetak), the Badshahi Bagh and the Rakt Talai.

In the case of Pushkar, Mr. Khurana said he had sanctioned Rs. 58.62 lakhs in 1998-99.

In 2003-04 the Centre again sanctioned Rs. 2.61 crores for the repair and development of 52 ghats in the Pushkar lake.

For the Dargah, on two different occasions in the past, Rs. 1.87 crores and Rs. 68.5 lakhs had been sanctioned for construction of rest houses.

"I am not getting into the non-utilisation of the funds and who is responsible for that. Hereafter, I am going to monitor the progress of this work,'' Mr. Khurana said.

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