Over 30 places in Punjab will get a facelift as the state government has decided to transform and develop potential places inside the state as the tourism and cultural hubs. Punjab, Cultural Affairs and Tourism minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu presided over a meeting on Monday.

Sidhu said that a sum of Rs 590.97 crore would be spent to ensure that Punjab emerges as a big time player on the world tourism stage.

The minister said, 30 places of significance throughout Punjab would be developed and given a facelift as world class tourism spots. He also said that projects under the various schemes have been chalked out to develop various places as centers of excellence from tourism viewpoint.

“There is no dearth of funds to give wings to the dream of propelling Punjab on to international level,” he said.

Sidhu said that Amritsar would be the centre of attraction in terms of tourism for the 11 places out of the 30 are in and around the city.

Sidhu further added that all these projects would come to fruition within one year and would have facilities such as Landscaping, Restaurants, Parking and Toilets for the convenience of the tourists.

Out of Rs 590.97 crore, a sum of Rs 344 crore is being availed as loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) the sanction for which has been granted, he added.

Apart from this, the sanction pertaining to Rs 96.97 crore for the revamp of the religious and historical cities in accordance with the ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ of the Union government has also been accorded, added the Minister.

He said, the process to release this amount is in final stages. Similarly, for the Amritsar city under the ‘Prasad’ scheme Rs 50 Crore would be spent.

Sidhu further elaborated that a project of Rs 100 Crore has been prepared under ‘Mughal Circuit’ which aims at developing historical spots in the state connected with the Mughal rule.

He said that the total cost of the project is Rs 590.97 Crore and after this gets completed another project worth Rs 100 Crore under the ‘Maharaja Circuit’ for the cities having connection with the princely states would be sent to the Union government.

Sidhu said, in the first phase from 15 June he would visit Amritsar, Kalanaur, Harike Pattan, Kapurthala, Hussainiwala and also have meetings with the local administration in order to ensure the smooth running of the projects.

The Minister reiterated that Punjab would be fully transformed and readied within coming six months to be a world class tourism hub and help connect the Non Resident Indians (NRI) Punjabi Diaspora with its historical and cultural roots.