Clean India chapter: ONGC to take care of Taj Mahal and 5 other tourist sites

‘ONGC has expressed its willingness to join the Clean India campaign and
take up six tourist destinations across the country as part of their corporate
social responsibility,’ said a senior tourism ministry official. Accordingly, the
modalities are being worked out and an MoU with ONGC will be signed soon. The
mandate includes cleaning work, maintenance, upkeep and refurbishment of these
sites as per requirement. Lack of hygiene and cleanliness at tourist
destinations has negatively impacted tourism in the country.

The Clean India campaign – launched by the tourism ministry in June this
year – has the target of ensuring an acceptable level of cleanliness and
hygiene practices at tourist destinations which would be sustained through
involvement of private and public sector stakeholders as part of their
corporate social responsibility. This initiative aims to create a collective
mindset that promotes cleanliness and hygiene by a balance of persuasion,
education, sensitization, training, demonstration, regulation and involvement at
the individual level.

Thirty-six monuments have been identified by Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) for the pilot project and 10 of these have already been adopted by
Institute of Hotel Management (IHM)/Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel
Management (IITTM). The 10 monuments are: Golkunda Fort, Hyderabad; Se’
Cathedral & St Francis Assisi Church Complex , old Goa; Gwalior Fort,
Gwalior; Buddhist Caves, Kanheri (Maharashtra); Megalithic Bridge on the
Um-Nyakaneth between Jaracm and Syndai, Um-Nyakaneth (Meghalaya); Red Fort,
Delhi; temples at Bhubaneshwar; Bhatinda Fort, Bhatinda (Punjab); Mamallapuram group
of monuments, Mamallapuram (Tamil Nadu); and Imambara of Asaf-ud Daula, Lucknow.

The tourism ministry envisages a target of 12 per cent growth rate in
foreign tourist arrivals as well as domestic tourist visits during the 12th
Five-Year Plan period. An estimated 6.29 million foreign tourists had visited
India in 2011.

The tourism sector has been acknowledged as a key driver for economic
development and employment generation across the world and can contribute to
faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth particularly for women and youth.