‘Namaste Orchha’ from March 6-8

Madhya Pradesh is all set to host ‘Namaste Orchha’, a three-day festival celebrating the cultural landscape of the state. Several activities have been planned for guests during the event, along with business sessions for the different stakeholders. This year, the state’s tourism department is also going all out with attractive investment policies.

Nisha Verma

Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) announced the event at a curtain-raiser event in New Delhi, in the presence of Sonia Meena, Additional Managing Director, MPSTDC. Speaking about the event, she said, “Orchha is a city located around 500 kms from Delhi and is only half an hour from Jhansi. It was awarded ‘Best Heritage City’ by Ministry of Tourism at the National Tourism Awards ceremony this year and is on the list of tentative UNESCO World Heritage sites.”

Those who want to set up tourism infrastructure will get a 15% subsidy from the government; we also auction land banks from time to time

At the inaugural function on the first day of the festival, visitors will be welcomed to a cultural programme and a 3D projection of Jahangir Mahal, the main citadel in Orchha. This will be followed by business meetings. “There will also be several activities related to nature, photography, food, etc., which will continue every day over the next two days. There will be cultural evenings at Orchha’s landmarks. On the third day, we will have a brunch in order to promote organic farming and highlight the organic farming practices in Orchha,” Meena added.

Comprehensive growth

MP Tourism is carrying out sustained activities and efforts in the field of promotion and publicity, as well as investor facilitation for better infrastructure, she claimed. “Infrastructure development is high on the priority list of the government. We are also committed to the task of restoration of our heritage sites, protection of our nature reserves and conservation of wildlife,” Meena said, adding that sustainable tourism is also something the corporation is working on. “Another aspect is rural tourism, which is very popular among inbound tourists in particular, or young tourists who come from urban areas and would like a flavour and experience of rural lifestyle. Hence, rural tourism, homestays and gram-stays are something that we are working on,” she shared.

Policy amendments and subsidies

In terms of policy changes, MP has a tourism facilitation subsidy policy in place, revealed Meena. “This means that those who want to set up tourism infrastructure such as hotels and resorts, amusement parks and other kinds of properties, will get a 15 per cent subsidy from the government. We also have land banks that we auction from time to time so that interested bidders can participate in the process.

One objective we are trying to achieve this year is to have a single-window clearance system instead of investors having to approach different authorities. Under this system we will set in place a single-window mechanism wherein all the permissions and required facilitation will be extended to the investor,” she said.