'Visa on arrival' scheme deferred

Government on Tuesday told the Rajya Sabha that the "Visa on Arrival" scheme to promote tourism in the country had been delayed due to security concerns.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan said the scheme was proposed to be started on an experimental basis in Delhi and Mumbai airports which catered to 90 per cent of the international arrivals.

In reply to another question, Jagmohan said the new Tourism Policy aimed at giving a boost to the sector and the Government had already increased the budget allocation for Tourism from Rs 150 crore to Rs 225 crore. The Plan allocation has also gone up substantially from Rs 500 crore to Rs 2900 crore, he said.

Jagmohan said the Government had taken special initiatives to build infrastructure in Ajanta Ellora caves, Jaisalmer and Kurukshetra.

In reply to another query on the development of library which comes under his ministry, Jagmohan said efforts are on to persuade the MPLADs department to allow MPs to allocate a portion of funds for development of libraries.

He said the Government proposed to have at least one library that would be networked with electronic data base.