Houseboats sailing through the placid waters of Vembanad lake in Kumarakom.
| Photo Credit: THE HINDU
Members of the Public Accounts Committee headed by senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal slammed the Union Tourism ministry for shoddy implementation of its flagship scheme — “Swadesh Darshan” — launched in 2014-15.
Under the scheme, during the period of 2014-15 to 2018-19, a total of 76 projects were sanctioned under identified thematic circuits in 31 States/Union Territories for ₹5,292.57 crore, with the aim of developing theme-based tourist routes.
The panel was reviewing a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the scheme. The audit report had highlighted serious lapses in the formulation and execution of the scheme. It had pointed out the government had not carried out feasibility studies before launching the scheme; the government has exceeded the sanctioned amount due to poor planning; approvals were given without Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and there had been no formal mechanism for evaluation and approval. The audit report also criticised the government for its failure to complete projects within the stipulated timeframe.
At the meeting, according to sources, the Ministry of Tourism claimed that 75 of the 76 sanctioned projects were completed. The meeting was attended by V. Vidyavathi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; Suman Billa, Additional Secretary; and Yadubir Singh Rawat, Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India.
The committee members strongly refuted this claim and noted that many projects remained incomplete or were non-functional, including the Kanwaria route in Bihar, Tribal circuit in Telangana, and Sree Narayana Guru Ashram in Kerala.
The committee, it is learnt through reliable sources, expressed serious dissatisfaction with the Ministry’s responses. “The Ministry was making desperate attempts to mislead the committee to cover up the deficiencies rather than addressing them. We have taken a serious note of this,” one of the members said.
The committee has directed the Ministry to conduct a physical field inspection of all projects, and submit a detailed and comprehensive reply within three weeks, covering the details on the actual status of projects, current maintenance and operational status, and status of coordination and implementation. They have also asked the Ministry to provide details on employment generation impact of the scheme and the tourist footfall.
Published – March 20, 2025 10:02 pm IST