Tourism Minister C.T. Ravi directed officials of his department to conduct a thorough survey and prepare a list of monuments and historical sites to be protected in the district.
He was speaking at a meeting of officials of the Departments of Tourism and Kannada and Culture at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Saturday.
“Bidar shares its borders with Maharashtra and Telangana. It has good historical monuments and sites and has a great potential for developing tourism. If we develop historical sites, people from neighbouring States will also visit them. You need to complete all the ongoing works undertaken by Tourism Department before the end of December this year,” he said.
The officers said that nine tourist places have been enlisted as protected sites, and a proposal was sent to add 10 more to the list.
When the officials told the Minister that the tourist taxi scheme got a poor response in the district, Raghunathrao Malkapure, MLC, intervened to say that people did not have proper information about the scheme.
As per the information provided by the officers, the department had planned to distribute 394 taxis, of which only 303 had been distributed to those who applied for it.
“The Tourism Department is not receiving enough applications as people don’t know about the scheme. You have to take measures to popularise the scheme so that more people can apply. Call for applications once again and reach the target of distribution of 394 taxis before the end of February next year,” Mr. Malkapure told the officers.
Zilla panchayat vice-president Geeta Panditarao Chidri, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rudresh Ghali, and other officers were present.
