Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, which gained worldwide attention following the unearthing of treasure in its vaults, has failed to find a place among the heritage sites identified for restoration and renovation in the Union Budget.
The temple does not figure among the eight sites, for which Mr. Jaitley has earmarked funds in the budget.
Authorities were working on a proposal to display the treasure in a museum to be set up near the temple and the listing of the temple would have made available funds for the project.
The Padmanabhapuram palace in Kanyakumari, Muzris heritage project, and the Edakkal caves in the State failed to find a place on the list.
Minister for Tourism A.P. Anil Kumar told The Hindu that the decision to grant T-VoA to citizens of 150 countries would benefit the State and help increase in footfalls. Kerala was the only State to have two airports with T-VoA facility.
The tourism industry is upset over the hike in service tax to 14 per cent. The service sector is doing well compared to the other sectors and has registered a growth of 10.06 per cent. “Taxing the sector further that is doing well is not appreciated and will affect Kerala in a big way,” president, Confederation of Tourism Industry, Kerala, E.M. Najeeb said. Secretary of the Kerala Travel Mart Anish Kumar P.K. said the leisure tax and service tax that was already 22 per cent would go up by another 2 per cent.