(a) whether the Government has recently declared or proposes to declare various places in the country including Jharkhand as tourist places/spots;
(b) if so, the details thereof during the last three years along with Kandaroo Falls, Gautam Dhara and Hirni Falls in Jharkhand;
(c) the details of funds allocated and expenditure incurred on developing such places during the said period; and
(d) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to provide facilities to tourists at these places?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)
(a) to (d): The Ministry of Tourism has launched two schemes namely Swadesh Darshan for integrated development of tourism infrastructure spanning the entire country and the National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) to beautify and improve amenities and infrastructure at major pilgrimage sites in the country.
Under Swadesh Darshan Scheme, the 13 theme based circuits which have been identified for development are North-East India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit. Under the PRASAD Scheme, 23 religious cities/sites have been identified for development which inter-alia include Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Amritsar (Punjab), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Dwarka (Gujarat), Deoghar (Jharkhand), Belur (West Bengal), Gaya (Bihar), Guruvayoor (Kerala), Hazratbal (Jammu & Kashmir), Kamakhya (Assam), Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu), Kedarnath (Uttarakhand), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Patna (Bihar), Puri (Odisha), Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), Somnath (Gujarat), Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), Trimbakeshwar (Maharashtra), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and Vellankani (Tamil Nadu).
The details of projects, amount sanctioned, released and utilised under the operative schemes to State Governments/UT Administrations during the last three years is given at Annexure.
No project has been sanctioned for Kandaroo Falls, Gautam Dhara and Hirni Falls in Jharkhand in the last three years.
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