Post News Network
Baripada, Sept 27: Tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj is endowed with several picture-postcard sites, but the tourism potential of many such places has not been tapped by the government.
Sixteen places in the district have got tourism spot status while several other places have evaded the government’s attention and are lying in obscurity. Similipal National Park, Deokund waterfall and Kakharua Baidyanath temple at Manatiri are among the places that attract tourists not only from the state but also abroad.
However, places like Sitakund, Tangarasuni, Sarasakan waterfall and Khandiadhar are no less attractive than the spots recognised by the tourism department. Over 15 such places have potential to attract tourists. Well aware of this, the department proposed to accord tourist spot tag to half of these places. But, the proposals have remained stuck at the bureaucratic level due to an amendment in guidelines governing accordance of tourism status in 2010.
As per the 2007 guidelines, a tourism officer is empowered to propose the name of a new place to the state government for tourism status if s/he feels so. Then, the special officer of the department will verify the proposal and may grant tourism tag.
However, the revised guidelines of 2010 state that the tourism officer will intimate the proposal to the district collector, who will form a committee with officers of forest and environment department, energy department, rural development department, women and child development department, health and bank officials as its members.
The committee will see various aspects of the proposed places such as distance from other tourist locations and infrastructure. If any of the departments doesn’t cooperate, the initial efforts turn futile.
The last tourism spot to be identified by the government in the district was Rachhuloipat dam in 2006. Since then, no other place has been earmarked for the purpose. As a result, the district has been losing the opportunity of generating more revenue from the tourism sector.
Tourism officer Manoranjan Mohapatra admitted that the revised guidelines have become a hurdle in granting tourism status to news places. “Proposals for Udla, Tangarasuni, Alakud waterfall of Similipal, Khandiadhar and Maru Math at Saraskana, Sitakund at Lulung and Dudia at Khunta have been sent to the government after 2006,” he added.