Almost a year has passed since the State government created tourism offices in 14 districts including Pudukottai and Perambalur. However, the government is yet to post officers and construct permanent buildings for them.
The new tourism offices were created based on the announcement made by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the State Assembly, with a view to promote tourism, organise tours, identify new potential tourist places and create tourist-friendly facilities at the popular tourist and picnic spots. Besides Pudukottai and Perambalur, new offices were created in Sivaganga, Tiruvallur, Erode and Namakkal.
As per the existing system, each tourism office should have a sanctioned strength of 6 staff such as Tourism Officer, Assistant Tourism Officer, Assistant, Junior Assistant, Office Assistant and a watchman. However, no new office has more than one staff member.
According to sources, as far as Perambalur office is concerned, all posts except Assistant Tourism Officer are vacant.
Similar is the case with the Pudukottai Tourism Office. Except the Tourism Officer post, all others are vacant since its creation.
Similarly, there are 32 Tourism Officer posts in the State including those for outstation (other State duty) officers.
However, there are just 18 Tourism Officers on duty. Remaining posts are lying vacant.
In Tiruchi, the home town of Tourism Minister Vellamandi N. Natarajan, the Tourism Officer post is lying vacant for a long time. It is being looked after by the Tourism Officer of Pudukottai as an additional charge.
