The Centre would develop birthplaces of Congress leaders Lal Bahadur Shastri and Madan Mohan Malaviya as tourist destinations, a move seen as a bid to woo party followers ahead of general elections in 2019.
"The birthplaces of Indian political stalwarts like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Madan Mohan Malaviya should be renovated," Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters after meeting Union Minister Mahesh Sharma here.
The two leaders also discussed the development of the birthplaces of Kabir and Premchand as tourist destination.
They also discussed various tourism projects for Varanasi which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.
She said Sharma has urged to speed up works on various tourism projects, especially the Ramayana musuem, to complete it in 18 months.
On the safety of tourists in Uttar Pradesh, especially women, Joshi said the state government is committed to provide them security and willing to take any steps in that direction, including deployment of more police personnel.
She said the state government will send a detailed project report (DPR) of the Ramayana musuem in Ayodhya in next 15-20 days so that work could start on the project as soon as possible.
Sharma said the five cities of Agra, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Gorakhpur have been identified for their holistic development for attracting tourists.
Sharma, later in series of tweets, said Bundhelkhand region would be also be given emphasis from tourism point of view, besides developing regions related to Jainism.
"Birthplace of Sant Kabir, Munshi Premchand, Madanmohan Malaviya and Lal Bahadur Shastri will be developed as tourist destinations," he said.
Earlier, Sharma had a meeting with yoga expert H R Nagendra and cardiologist P C Reddy to discuss wellness and medical tourism policy the that government plans to launch on the International Day of Yoga on June 21.
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