Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 27
The fourth Sectoral Summit of the North Eastern Council (NEC) to review tourism and hospitality industry of the North Eastern region began today in Sikkim State capital Gangtok with Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio spelling out in clear terms what needs to be done in order to fully realize the potential of the region in the areas of tourism in particular and the Centre’s Look-East policy in general.
Speaking in the presence of Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for DoNER and Chairman NEC, Ambika Soni, Union Minister for Tourism and Chief Ministers and other ministers of the North Eastern States, Rio while alluding to the great potentialities offered by the region however hastened to add that such advantages have yet to be exploited. “The biggest obstacles to their exploitation are poor road and rail infra-structures, inadequate and unreliable air connectivity, the outdated restrictions on foreigners’ visit to the North East, and also the atmosphere of insurgency affecting most of the North East States”, Rio said in his speech a copy of which was received here.
Rio underlined that the main focus of discussion during the sectoral meeting should be on how to overcome these impediments, and how to reap the full potentials of the North East region in tourism and hospitality industry. He also hoped that the new “Look East Policy” of the Government of India should also basically try to address these same issues.
While pointing out that over the past 40 years or so, the North East Region had been “the most misunderstood and also neglected region of the country, with the policy makers in the Centre making no real effort to understand the region”, Rio said and hoped that the new Look-East Policy will change all this and aid the process of bringing out specific and workable policies and programmes to suit the requirements of the region. Rio however said that the North East, by itself is as diverse as India itself and that each State has its own peculiar problems, which needs to be understood and taken care of.
He also called for more equitable distribution of the funds being operated by DoNER and NEC, as also in the location of national or regional institutions. “For example, Nagaland is yet to have a single regional or national institute, whereas some of the North East States already have a multiple of them”, Rio reminded the gathering.
On the poor connectivity be it by Rail, Air or Road, Rio felt strongly that the Central Government should agree to Nagaland’s proposals for declaration of some of the most vital roads in the State as National Highways. “It may be noted that the Central budget had allocated Rs. 5000 crore for construction of roads in the North East region during the current year. Therefore, if the Government of India is reluctant to take up new National Highways in a poorly connected State like Nagaland, I wonder how they propose to spend that Rs. 5000 crore?” Nagaland’s Chief Minister also put on record its long pending demand for immediate construction of a railway line from Dimapur to Kohima, and an airport at Ciethu, near Kohima.
Rio also had a word for the national media terming it as “unfortunate” that the North East region is being neglected and misunderstood by the national media whose attention is drawn to the region, only when there is insurgency or law and order incidents. “The negative impacts of such biased or selective reporting is discouraging both tourists and investors from venturing into the North East region”, Rio said.
On the issue of promoting the NE region as an important international tourist circuit and destination, Rio noted that the States in the region at present are not equipped enough to sustain independently tour operation of such nature. As such he suggested that tour packages should so be designed to include contiguous destinations from at least two to three States of the NE. “Now that the North East Tourism Development Council (NEDC) has been created, it should focus its attention on these areas, such as creating regional linkages and establishing a workable network of tourist circuits and destinations in the NE region, and marketing them to the outside world”, Rio further added.
As far as Nagaland was concerned, the Chief Minister expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism for generously helping in upgrading the weak tourism infrastructure, and to create tourist destinations and circuits within the State. Rio also made a mention of how Nagaland has embarked upon a very novel scheme of “communitization” in the area of tourism development. “Simply put, it is a system whereby the village community is empowered to participate in the development process of asset creation, and also shoulder full responsibility in the management of the assets as an active partner. It is an encouraging experiment because the community enthusiastically accepts this responsibility with a strong sense of ownership”.
Rio also informed that the State Government was giving due emphasis on the prospects of developing cultural and eco tourism while selecting the areas for tourist circuits and destinations. The impact of cultural and eco tourism projects sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism is steadily creating an awareness amongst the village communities about their environment, Rio informed and gave examples of Khonoma Village, Benreu Village, Tuophema Village and Aizuto villages where the Village Councils have voluntarily declared huge tracts of community forest as conserved area, prohibiting jhuming, hunting, fishing and unregulated extraction of flora. In this context, Rio requested the Ministry of Tourism, GOI, and the NEC to back up the efforts of the State to promote rural tourism in the State.
Pointing out on the need to propel and sustain tourism initiatives, Rio wanted that capacity building amongst the local people should be given due priority and called for setting up at least one Hotel Management Institute in the State. In conclusion, Rio hoped that the summit meeting will come out with practical suggestions and resolutions to convert the N.E region into a real tourist paradise, and promote tourism industry as one of the mainstays of its economy.
It may be mentioned that the NEC in its 53rd meeting held at New Delhi on November 15-16 last, decided to organise sector specific meetings every month on rotation basis in the eight North Eastern States to review central sector/sponsored schemes being implemented by the Central Ministries in the Region.
A schedule of the first 16 meetings was drawn up accordingly.
The first Sectoral Summit to review on power sector programmes in the NE region was held on January 16-17 at Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh with Mani Shankar Aiyar in the chair.
The second Sectoral Summit on road Sector Programmes was held on February 8-9 at Shillong, Meghalaya while the third Sectoral Summit to review commodity boards and APEDA, inland water transport, flood & erosion control and irrigation sector programmes was held on March 9-11 at Guwahati, Assam.
The fifth Summit on Air Connectivity will take place at Aizawl, Mizoram on May 18-19, the sixth Summit on Rail Connectivity at Agartala, Tripura on June 15-16 and the seventh Summit on education, Sports, Art and Culture in July 2007 at Imphal, Manipur.
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