Varanasi tourism gets a 70.7 crore boost
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi is set to get a bigger place on the international tourism map, courtesy a Rs 70.7 crore fund that has been allotted to the city for promotion of tourism.
Union minister for culture and tourism (independent charge) Shripad Naik, who was in the city on Saturday to attend the Tour Operators’ and Guides conclave, announced that this fund would be in addition to the budgetary allocations already made to Varanasi for promoting tourism in the Buddhist circuit and renovation of its ghats.
“The union tourism ministry has prepared an elaborate plan to catapult Varanasi into the international tourism arena. We are allocating an additional Rs 70.7 core for this purpose,” Naik said.
On the occasion, the minister also announced pension and life insurance schemes for tourist guides.
“We are in the process of starting a pension scheme and an insurance cover for guides. This facility will be available to tourist guides across the country,” said Naik.
Apart from this, Varanasi also features on the railway ministry’s list of 24 cities across India for renovation and beautification of railway stations. As part of this project, the railway ministry will undertake the development the cantonment railway station of Varanasi.
“A corpus of Rs 12.5 crore has been allocated by the railways for the facelift of 24 railway stations, including Varanasi,” informed Naik. The union budget has also allocated Rs 2300 crore for the Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission and Varanasi is expected to get a considerable portion of this amount as well.