Sasmit Raises Issue of Omission of Odisha Tourist Sites In Central List in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Biju Janata Dal member of Rajya Sabha Dr. Sasmit Patra today gave a Special Mention Notice in the Rajya Sabha on omission of Odisha’s Iconic tourist places from among the 17 cites to be developed by the Center.

Dr.Sasmit Patra raised the issue of omission of Odisha from the list of 17 iconic tourism sites to be development by Union Government as announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s Union Budget. Dr. Patra stated in the Parliament that Odisha has rich architecture, heritage and bio-diversity which have led to several mesmerising iconic tourist sites being present in the state. Out of the five tourist sites namely Konark Sun Temple, Chilika Lake, Bhitarkanika National Park, Simlipal National Park and the Diamond Triange Buddhist circuit, at least two should be included among the list of tourist sites to be developed by the Centre from this year. He strongly stated that omission of Odisha tourist sites by the Centre is both surprising and shocking. He also mentioned that on 10th July, 2019, the Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik had written to the Union Government demanding that out of these five mentioned iconic tourist sites, at least two should be incorporated in the list of  iconic tourist sites to be developed by Centre.