Manish Kumar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Frequent replacement of secretaries and directors besides the dearth of ground-level officials, are hindering the functioning of the tourism department.
In 2015 alone, the department saw three tourism secretaries and as many tourism directors being changed. And no IAS officer is being posted with independent charge of the department.
On November 18, Nitin B Jawale, the current incumbent, was made director of the department. He is holding additional charge of the department besides being director of special projects with panchayati raj department. Jawale is handling five departments at a time.
According to department sources, the tourism director hardly gets the time to hold meetings with the officials or to review the working of the department owing to the workload. The director is reported to have visited the department only 4-5 times over the past month.
Jawale, who is also working as the managing director of Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC), however, has averred that he was not neglecting the tourism department. “Right now I am taking stock of the situation and projects here. I am passionate about boosting tourism from the state,” he said.
But the director’s commitment notwithstanding officials in the department said many files that required his approval were getting stuck owing to his frequent absence due to his other engagements.
The department has also seen three tourism secretaries this year. The first to leave this year was Arvind Padhee. He left on a central government deputation. Padhee was followed by L N Gupta, who was given additional charge of the department. Gupta, too, left the department soon and was replaced by Gagan Dhal, who had been working with the higher education department.
The department is also lacking tourist officers. According to one official, the dearth of tourist officers was “affecting publicity and other works”. “Currently, the tourist officer in Baripada is taking care of work for Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore,” he said.
Amid constant change of guard at top positions the planned meetings of tourism promotion councils as mandated by the Orissa Tourism Policy 2013 are not happening and events are being organised with limited planning, officials said.
