Sonia constituency gets ITDC bonanza

The Indian Tourism Development Corporation ITDC has just discovered a new tourist destination8212;Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi8217;s constit...

The Indian Tourism Development Corporation ITDC has just discovered a new tourist destination8212;Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi8217;s constituency and the Gandhi family pocket borough.

ITDC has earmarked Rs 5.8 crore for its Rae Bareli plan which includes development of the Saraspur Bird sanctuary and the Dalmau Ghats. This, incidentally, is more than half of what the PSU spent in one year Rs 10.3 crore on projects in entire Uttar Pradesh that include the international tourist destinations.

The plan to develop the constituency of the Congress president as a prime tourist destination has gathered momentum at a time when Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury is involved in a spate of controversies. Her decision to stop ITDC from procuring Johnnie Walker whisky from the manufacturer for duty-free shops was first reported by The Sunday Express.

While officials say that the ITDC is yet to receive the project sanction from the State government, the organisation has taken some unusual steps to fast-track it. Four senior engineers who were transferred on February 17 from New Delhi to ITDC hotels in Jaipur and Patna, have been re-transferred on March 9. The engineers, documents in possession of this newspaper show, have been asked to 8216;8216;immediately8217;8217; report to the Rae Bareli project and that they will report at their earlier place of transfer once the project is completed.

Chowdhury was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.

Normally, state governments approach the ITDC to develop destinations but in this case, the ITDC8217;s consultancy division was asked to prepare the project report. The report has been finalised.

8216;8216;The Rai Bareilly project was conceived by ITDC last year and the project report completed by our consultants last month. We are now committed to sending funds and staff to Rai Bareilly and are awaiting final clearances,8217;8217; says a senior official.

For chief8217;s constituency

	nbsp;	8226; Construction of amenities like picnic huts at the Saraspur Bird sanctuary 8226; Adding more rooms to the Uttar Pradesh Tourism8217;s Saras Guest House 8226; Construction of a banquet hall in the Botanical Gardens 8226; Engineering work at two important road intersections 8226; Development of the Dalmau Ghats, which attract five lakh tourists a year 8226; Construction of night shelters and a dharamshala at Dalmau 8226; Clearing and landscaping a defunct canal 8226; Landscaping and improvements at Mela grounds in Dalmau 8226; Repair and painting of statues	nbsp;

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More