The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) on Wednesday said it had become the first tourism board in the country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Archaeological Survey of India for smoother execution of development initiatives and creation of tourist facilities and amenities in and around Centrally-protected monuments and sites in Maharashtra.
The MoU was signed by Dr. K.H. Govinda Raj, Managing Director of MTDC and Sharad Sharma, Additional Director General of Archaeologial Survey of India, Delhi in presence of Union Tourism Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma and State Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal at Bandra Kurla Complex on Tuesday. The MoU will boost the State’s plans to celebrate 2017 as the ‘Visit Maharashtra’ year and showcase the State as a world-class tourist destination.
“Maharashtra is a state that has some of the most historic and magnificent monuments and tourists from across the world look forward to experience such places. By associating with ASI, we look forward to providing tourists all the facilities with good infrastructure and boosting tourism in the state,” said Principal Secretary, Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Valsa Nair Singh.
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She said the MoU will allow the Director, Tourism, to organise tourism festivals like Fort Festival or Diwali on forts or on similar themes in and around Centrally-protected monuments. As per the MoU, such festivals should mainly involve the historical importance of the monument and generate employment for the locals. MTDC will take up the primary responsibility of keeping the monuments clean during and after such festivals, the agreement said. MTDC has proposed such festivals on historic forts like Raigad, Sindhudurg, Shivneri, Rajgad, and Pratapgad.
The agreement also allows the Maharashtra government to organise funds from corporates, Central assistance or through public private participation.