Heritage promotion, tourism circuit schemes in Delhi govt budget

New Delhi, Mar 9 () The Delhi government has introduced a heritage promotion scheme in its annual budget tabled on Tuesday, seeking to brand the national capital as a tourist destination.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, while presenting a Rs 69,000-crore budget for year 2021-22, said Rs 521 crore has been allocated in 2021-22 for the implementation of schemes, programmes and projects of the sectors of tourism, art and culture.

"For the promotion of tourism, the government is introducing two new schemes titled the 'Delhi Heritage Promotion' and 'Delhi Tourism Circuit'. In order to brand Delhi as a tourist destination, a scheme had been proposed last year which could not be implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is proposed for this scheme to be implemented this year," he said.

A new scheme has been proposed to ensure the safety of women at tourist spots. This includes measures such as installation of CCTV cameras at entry points of all tourist spots, lighting up of dark spots with LEDs, and posting of uniform clad guards at all tourist spots under the Delhi tourism department, facility of mobile vans at various tourist sites, and Rs 5 crore has been proposed in the budget towards this, Sisodia said.

In his speech, laying emphasis on art and culture, he also quoted a dialogue from famous Hollywood movie 'Dead Poet's Society'. In the scene, professor John Keating, played by Robin Wiliams, says says to his students: "We do not read and write poetry because it is cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race".

In other allocations, Sisodia said, "Our government will provide financial support of Rs 4,367 crore to the local bodies. This includes an amount of Rs 2,298 crore as tied fund for implementation of schemes, programmes, projects by the local bodies and Rs 2,069 crore as Basic Tax Assignment (BTA)".

"In addition, an amount of Rs 1,805 crore has been provided for local bodies as share in stamps and registration fee and one-time parking fee. Our government is thus giving a total financial support of Rs 6,172 crore to local bodies in budget estimate 2021-22," he said. KND CK