Wednesday, 30 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Bureaucratic hurdles and lukewarm response of the bureaucracy may have deprived Uttarakhand of a major opportunity to tap huge foreign funds for development of a world class tourism destination. In the year 2018 Abu Dhabi Investment Authority of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had shown keen interest in investing a huge sum of money to develop a suitable location in the mountains into a world class tourism destination. However the proposal got entangled in bureaucratic hurdles. It is learnt that the then Tourism minister Satpal Maharaj was not kept in the loop by the officials of his own department in the whole issue.
The Pioneer is in possession of a letter written by the Tourism secretary, Government of India, Rashmi Verma to the Uttarakhand chief secretary on February 7, 2018. The number of notings and signatures on the letter bear testimony of the bureaucratic labyrinth in which the proposal- which if implemented would have had a major impact on the tourism sector in Uttarakhand and could have set an example for other such ventures -got trapped.
In her letter the secretary had said that in the meeting of the India -UAE high level task force on investment in Abu Dhabi on January 14, 2018, the managing director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HH Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed had expressed his intention to develop a location in hills into a world class tourist destination. He further mentioned that affluent Emiratis, along with their extended families usually spend summer vacations in Europe but they are increasingly getting put off by the negative and discriminatory attitude of a number of Europeans. Since India is next door to UAE, they would prefer India if adequate, high quality facilities are created in an area that enjoys cool climate.
After it the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi asked the Ministry of Tourism to act on it which in turn offered the Uttarakhand government the major investment opportunity.
It is learnt that the then Tourism secretary of Uttarakhand had visited UAE to discuss the matter but due to protocol issues he could not meet the director of Abu Dhabi investment authority.
