Thiruvananthapuram: It looks highly likely that tennis legend Steffi Graf will starve the ambitious Responsible Tourism initiative of funds. The Tourism Department, in a surprise move, has made Graf Kerala Ayurveda’s global ambassador. But given the severe fiscal constraints, the Department has decided to pick money from various tourism projects to pay Ms Graf Rs 4 crore. RT, which has been given a meagre Rs 1 crore in the latest budget, will suffer the most.
“In fact, even before Steffi Graf came into the picture, the Department was gradually attempting to play down the importance of RT,” a source said. But tourism minister A P Anil Kumar, who was convinced of RT’s importance, had forced the finance minister in June to grant Rs 50 lakh for RT, over and above the Rs 1 crore earmarked in the budget.
“But now, with Graf in the picture, even the minister seems to have abandoned RT,” the source said. The worst affected will be ‘God’s Own Country, People’s Own Tourism’, an ambitious RT initiative to improve rural household income and which was given pride of place in the Governor’s address.
The ‘POT’ project, envisaged to take the state’s RT initiative to a higher orbit, was to be implemented in 114 panchayats in the first phase. It was also included in Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s ‘Mission 676’.
Though it requires Rs 5 crore, the finance minister had kept nothing in the budget for the project. It was for this project that the tourism minister extracted an additional Rs 50 lakh from K M Mani.
Creating a resource map of a panchayat is at the core of the project. Occupations, art and cultural activities and potential tourist spots of a panchayat will be recorded. Then, with stakeholder participation, a tourism package will be evolved linking these resources. The ultimate objective is to create extra income for local families.
“The choice is between Steffi Graf and improving local income and the Department have opted for Graf,” the official said.
