Steena Joy – Mumbai
Maharashtra is looking at Public Private Partnership (PPP) to boost the tourism potential of the state. Speaking exclusively to Food & Hospitality World, Swadheen S Kshatriya, chief secretary, Government of Maharashtra, said, “The state’s potential for attracting tourists is immense. However, we have not been able to tap it to the full extent. So we have identified that certain policy changes will be required. We have already formulated a tourism policy which has been uploaded on our website. We have so far received 85 suggestions to improve the policy.”
He added, “We want to open the tourism sector to the PPP model. We have large land assets for tourism projects. So we wish to invite the private sector to invest in tourism. Land will be provided by the government and the private sector can develop it. We want to encourage investment in the tourism sector. Then there is the Adopt a Monument initiative. Historical monuments are always in need of maintenance and we want to involve the private sector in this. We also have a Single Window proposal for tourism. Presently, nearly 71 permissions are required for tourism projects; we want to scale it down to a bare 20 permissions. We want to consider all kinds of investment to make the tourism sector very attractive.”
Maharashtra has only two institutes under the Hunar Se Rozgar Tak initiative for skill development in tourism and hospitality. Commenting on the steps being taken to improve the skill development scheme in the state, Kshatriya stated, “Skill development is an important flagship programme of the Government of India and also of Maharashtra. For the first time in history of the state, a separate department has been created for skill development headed by the principal secretary with adequate budget allocation. The Pramod Mahajan Kaushalya Vikas Scheme was recently started. We will make use of over 800 Industrial Technical Institutes (ITIs) in the state. We also plan to set up a Multi Skilling Centre in every district and a Centre of Excellence. We will initiate a dialogue with corporate houses and take feedback from them regarding their manpower requirements.”
He also pointed out that accommodation options in certain areas are lacking. “There is no adequate Bed & Breakfast accommodation and homestay options in the state. Nagpur and Vidarbha have beautiful forests and rich wildlife including tigers, but the accommodation options are very few. We must build more accommodation options in the buffer zones of forests like it was done in Madhya Pradesh. We want to encourage such models.”