By G. Ganapathy Subramaniam

NEW DELHI, July 20, 1997 (The Hindustan Times) In order to boost tourism development in the North-East the Government has decided to gradually lift the restrictions imposed on domestic tourists through the innerline permit stipulation and reserve 10 per cent of the Tourism Department s budget for this region. Efforts are also on to correct the long-standing impression that North-East is not a secure place and convey to the public that people of the region are visitor-friendly.

By April next year domestic tourists would be free to travel to most parts of North-East and only a few areas would be under the purview of innerline permit, according to Government sources. The Home Ministry has given an indication to this effect to the Department of Tourism.

As of now domestic tourists are not allowed to visit many parts of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram without innerline permit issued by the State Government concerned. Since these State Governments and the Department of Tourism are keen to get this restriction removed because they feel it is hindering tourist inflow, the Home Ministry has now agreed to do away with this stipulation gradually.

Only a few sites which are very close to the international border and some project sites would continue to be out of bounds for domestic tourists. The rest of the region would be opened up by next April, the Government sources said. The restriction is also causing confusion at times since areas which have been opened up for foreign tourists are still under the innerline restriction preventing domestic tourists.

The Home Ministry is also considering proposals to ease the restrictions on foreign tourists in North-East. As of now foreign tourists are allowed to visit only some destinations in the region, that too after obtaining permits. In some cases, even the maximum duration of stay is subject to restriction. The restrictions on tourists in this region was imposed on account of proximity to international borders with China, Bangladesh, Myanamar, Bhutan and Tibet.

The impression among officials of the Tourism Department, the industry and the State Government is that the potential of Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur has not been tapped properly. Even though the region has scenic hills, virgin forests and rich wildlife, the annual tourist inflow continues to be less than 5 lakh.

One of the reasons for the lack of growth in tourism, officials feel is lack of infrastructure. Poor accessability heads the list with lack of air traffic facility deterring tourists and the nature of the terrain not permitting strong and reliable railway system or road traffic.

While only Rs 19 crore was allocated to the North-East for tourism development in the eighth plan period, the actual release was even lower at Rs 8.73 crore. Since these allocations are considered to be too little, the Tourism Department has allocated Rs 14 crore to the region for 1997-98 and is planning to pump in much more in the years to come.