Tourism in Punjab will be promoted from a commercial angle so that it can become a vehicle for boosting the state economy, the state’s tourism minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, said on Sunday. Phillaur, who had come here to inaugurate a heritage hub, told reporters that he had recently met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal regarding the need to give a boost to tourism in the state.
"The chief minister has assured liberal allocation of funds for boosting tourism," he said. He admitted that the state lacked in promoting tourism commercially and more marketing was required in this regard. Phillaur also said that a major thrust will be laid upon pilgrimage and heritage tourism. "A heritage village is coming up in the holy city of Amritsar. Other holy cities in state are being declared heritage sites while Kartapur has already been given this status," he informed.
When asked about some tourist complexes in the state lying closed, the minister said that some of them have already been given on lease while others are having court cases or departmental disputes. "We have engaged lawyers to pursue these cases speedily," he said.
Phillaur, who also holds the portfolio of Jails Department, denied that former Punjab minister and ex-SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur, lodged in Kapurthala Model jail after her conviction in a case, was being given any VIP treatment there. When his attention was drawn to Bibi's own reported remark in a section of press that she felt like being in a hostel and not in a jail, Phillaur quipped, "She means she feels like being in a hostel only because the Model jail is a modernised one, having all facilities for its inmates".
Phillaur asserted that neither the jail manual was flouted nor any special treatment was given to Kaur. On general administration in jails, Phillaur said that plans were afoot to install jammers, X-ray machines and scanners in jails to prevent the use and entry of mobile phones into the jail premises. "The system has already been installed in the Central jails and remaining jails will get it soon. A grant of Rs 2 crore was in the pipeline for this project," said Phillaur.