Pitching for maintaining cleanliness around religious places, former cricketer and MP Mohd Azharuddin today said Tourism Ministry should undertake steps for improving hygienic conditions at these sites.
The Congress MP from Uttar Pradesh was a special invitee to the National Tourism Advisory Council meeting here and shared his experience about a visit to Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah.
He said a lot of beggars loiter around the dargah and make the vicinity very unclean because of which the sanctity of the place is getting affected.
"The ministry should run the awareness programmes to maintain cleanliness around religious places," he said.
Besides Azharuddin, Bollywood actors Pooja Batra and Deepti Bhatnagar also attended the NTAC meeting as special invitees.
Batra said that wayside amenities in India are in bad condition and there is lack of public toilets in urban areas.
"Since they are not maintained properly by the government agencies, the ministry should hand over the maintenance of the wayside amenities to private parties," she said.
"Tourism Ministry should run special TV programmes in local channels by involving local celebrities, which will motivate the people and educate them on cleanliness around tourist destinations," Bhatnagar said.
NTAC is a think tank comprising experts from various fields including representatives of industry associations and senior officials from ministries of Finance, Railways, Culture, External Affairs, Urban Development, Road Transport and Highways and Planning Commission.
It advises the Tourism Ministry on various aspects of tourism with the objective of promoting domestic and foreign tourism in the country.
