With the onset of this New Year, travelling to North-East became further attractive. Foreign travellers willing to visit the North-Eastern states of Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram will no more require to obtain the Protected Area Permit (PAP).
The Union home ministry, through a notification, has excluded the "entire area of the states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland from the Protected Area regime under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) order 1958."
Earlier, to attract domestic tourists to visit North-East, the Centre had eased Leave Travel Concession (LTC) rules for central government employees.
The new notification came into effect from yesterday and will be in effect for a period of one year initially. However, all foreigners visiting these states will have to register themselves with the Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) of the district they visit within 24 hours of their arrival.
Citizens of Pakistan and China would still continue to require prior approval of the Union home ministry before their visit these three states.
A Union home ministry communiqué stated that "Indian Missions and Posts have also been authorised to issue 'Missionary Visas' to foreign Missionaries visiting these three states as per the extant guidelines of the government.”
The decision of the Centre will ease the difficulties being faced by foreigners to visit these three states is expected to boost tourism in these states. However, Indians as well as foreigners willing to visit the mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh will still require to obtain Inner Line Permit (ILP) and PAP respectively before visiting.