Karol Bagh, Paharganj to be revamped ahead of CGW: Selja

New Delhi, Nov 4 : Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja today said Delhi's most cramped areas Paharganj and Karol Bagh will get a makeover ahead of the Commonwealth Games, with a total of Rs 77 crores earmarked for their development.

''While Rs 44 crores had been allocated for Paharganj, Rs 33 has been earmarked for Karol bagh,'' she said while replying to queries at the Economic Editors' Conference.

The Minister said that Ministry of Road Transport has sanctioned funds under CRF for developing civic amenities in Paharganj and Karol Bagh area.

She also said her Ministry had also alloted Rs 11 crore for building multi-storey parking bays in Paharganj with hydraulic presses.

Tourism Secretary Sujit Banerjee, who was also present, said Rs 20,000 crores were being spent by various agencies on the Games.

''We expect to generate revenue much more than that,'' he said.

The Minister said new initiatives have been taken to provide the required skilled manpower in hospitality sector. This includes skill training in Food Production (cooks) and F and B (waiters) sector under the 'Hunar se Rozgar tak' scheme and Skill Certification of existing service providers.

She said, with a view to provide the required additional room capacity of 30,000 in NCR region, regular monitoring of on going projects is being undertaken.

In the recent review meeting undertaken by her last month, Ms Selja said out of the 10,268 rooms in definite category, 5645 (over 55 per cent) were found to be complete and directions have been given to complete the remaining well before the CWG-2010.

Ms Selja said the services of around 11,000 rooms available from the licensed guest houses will also be utilised.

She said the renovation of Ashok Hotel was undertaken in a record time for it to be available for the General Assembly of Commonwealth Games held in October, 2009. The participants were appreciative about the efficient pace of work as well as services delivered during their stay in the hotel. Ashoka has been declared the Games Family Hotel for the CWG-2010.

The Minister further said, Ministry of Tourism will be undertaking major promotional campaign in the key markets of Commonwealth countries coinciding with the Queens Baton Relay.

She said Ministry of Road Transport also has kindly agreed to implement Centralized collection of Road Taxes in the Golden Triangle of Delh-Agra-Jaipur to facilitate seamless flow of tourist vehicles in view of the upcoming CWG-2010.

The Minister said a few cities of tourist importance are being selected for holistic development of urban civic amenities wherein convergence with Ministries of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development, Tourism, Culture and Road Transport would be undertaken.

She said in order to improve the quality of statistics related to domestic tourism, a pilot study for the states of Punjab, Delhi, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh has been launched. The model so developed will be replicated in the other states.

--UNI