Source: The Sangai Express / Manipur Info Centre
New Delhi, April 12:
Manipur Tourism Director BB Sharma said Manipur has its important historical background and diversity of culture.
It has 33 recognized tribes settled in the hills and the major community Meitei with other different communities in the valley.
It is an ancient land ruled by the kings.
It was a kingdom before it merged into Indian Union in 1949.The erstwhile Burma frequently invaded the kingdom and there was seven years devastation in Manipur from 1819 to 1925.Manipur's capital Imphal was a battlefield of the World War II.
As such, tourism potentials in the State can be developed on the backdrop of its cultural strengths, games and sports, diversity of the people etc.
BB Sharma was speaking at the concurrent session 2 �"Horizons of Heaven Opportunities in the Tourism Sector" on the last day of the 3rd North East Business Summit here yesterday.
In the session chaired by Lt.Gen (Retd) Ajai Singh, Governor of Assam, the Tourism Director narrated the State Government's effort for promotion of tourism in Manipur.
He asserted that the Restricted Area Permit system has become a main obstruction towards the development of tourism in the State.
He urged the Centre to lift all the restrictions in the State in view of the ongoing approach of the globalization.
He stated that there is no Inner Line Permit system in Manipur but if a tourist wants to visit Manipur on surface transport, he or she requires to obtain it in passing through the territory of Nagaland.
After the opening of roads to ASEAN countries, he said, Manipur was considered as the Gateway of South East Asia.
In the Session, HS Das, Commissioner (Tourism) of Government of Assam said Restricted Area Permit system was lifted in the State since 1995.NC Sinha, Secretary (Tourism), Government of Tripura also revealed that there were no restrictions of RAP or Inner Line Permit in Tripura.
The Union Tourism Secretary AK Mishra stated that Ministry of Tourism was conscious about the existence of restricted measures such as Protected Area Permits/Restricted Area Permits/Inner Line Permits that had become a major constraint in the development of tourism in the NE region.
He said the issue of relaxation of these artificial constraints to tourism had been taken up with the Ministry of Home Affairs, which, in turn, had asked for the views of the State Governments.
He requested to the State Governments to send their response quickly in order to solve the problems early.
Participating at the discussion, a representative from IndoMyanmar Chamber of Commerce drew the attention of the Centre to set up immigration counters at Moreh border so that tourists from Myanmar could enter the region.
He informed that patients from Myanmar were interested to come to North East for better treatment now that the Myanmar Government had allowed their citizens travel to India by road.
Pointing out the importance of tourism in providing job opportunities to the youths, Subhash Goyal, President of Indian Association of Tour Operators firmly said, " I will guarantee you all that if the tourism industries could be developed in the North East, there will be no terrorism in the region in the next two years".