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INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK

For Bhushan Ashok Gagrani Secretary Tourism to Mahrashtra Government & Managing Director (MD) of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) "innovation" coupled with dedication is the mantra to success. Gagrani is an IAS officer of 1990 batch of the Maharashtra cadre. According to him one of the biggest achievements has been to bring tourism within the reach of a common man.

There are many firsts to the credit of this young, dynamic & enterprising bureaucrat as MD of the MTDC.Like development of full-fledged scuba Diving Centre on Konkan Coast (in Sindhudurga District).Bhushan Ashok Gagrani who is also MD of "Film City" as well holds the charge of Secretary Information & Public Relations(IPR) to the Mahrashtra Government. In a free & frank exclusive interview to <whispersinthecorrdors.com> he unfolded his plans regarding steps to boost tourism in this Western Indian state.

In reply to a question he said "MTDC's 90% accommodation facilities cater to budget tourists. It introduced "bed & breakfast" (B&B) accommodation concept in 1996 & has group accommodation & budget family accommodation at most of its units in Maharashtra. Every year MTDC plans & adds to new places/facilities for budget tourism. In the last & current financial year MTDC has added almost 100 such facilities all over the Maharashtra."He also stated that plans were afoot to work on first of its kind special entertainment zone near Mumbai with a large investment from private sector.

Gragrani who loves to chill out by playing squash has equal measure of passion for mountaineering.Here goes his interview-

1/ What new projects are you going to add/launch?

A- MTDC has launched the following new projects:
i) Full-fledged Scuba Diving Centre on Konkan Coast (in Sindhudurga District).
ii)A Rs. 300 crore coastal tourism development Plan.
iii)Started establishing R.V Parks & Campervan Tourism to develop Road tourism options in Maharashtra.
iv)Forming Umbrella body of all major players of Tourism like Off-beat tourism product providers, Tour-operators & local hotelier groups etc.
v)Arts & Craft village in Mumbai and Aurangabad.
vi)Eco-tourism project in Vidarbha region of the State.
vii) Narrow gauge luxury train in Vidarbha.
viii) Life size cave replicas of 4 caves of Ajanta to provide world class interactive multimedia experience to the visitors.

2/ What are your plans to hold the inbound traffic of domestic tourists?

A- The overall growth in economy, easy accessibility, improved communication & availability of spare time & money have all added to the impressive growth of Tourism ( both inbound & outbound ) up to 15% to 20 % per annum. Increase in Indian Outbound Tourism (Six million) compared to foreign inbound (Four million) gives the impression that inbounds or domestic tourist traffic is decreasing or need plans to hold this traffic.
Nevertheless, to increase the domestic tourist traffic Maharashtra is concentrating on:-
i) Improvement in infrastructure.
ii)Offering diversified tourism product.
iii)Attract private investment in the sector by offering incentives.
iv)Increase budget allocation.
v)Sharing developmental responsibility as

oForest & Eco Tourism.
oPilgrimage Tourism.
oRegional Tourism Development.
oNational & International projects with Central Financial assistance.
oMega projects through overseas funding.

vi)Exploit Area strength & focus accordingly e.g.
oVidharba - Forest & Eco Tourism
oWest Maharashtra/Marathwada - Historical/Heritage Tourism
oKonkan - Beach & Leisure Tourism
oPan Maharashtra - Pilgrimage Tourism.

3/ These day there is lot of stress on budget hotels. What is MTDC doing in that direction?

A- Stress has been on budget hotels by tourism players may be a recent phenomenon, but MTDC has right from its inception (1975) worked on this concept. MTDC's 90% accommodation facilities cater to budget tourists. It introduced "bed & breakfast"( B&B) accommodation concept in 1996 & has group accommodation & budget family accommodation at most of its units in Maharashtra. Every year MTDC plans & adds to new places/facilities for budget tourism. In the last & current financial year MTDC has added almost 100 such facilities all over Maharashtra.The state government has announced elaborate tourism policy, which gives wide range of incentives and tax exemptions to the investor in hospitality sector.

4/ Do you have plans for initiating projects under Public Private Partnership (PPP) principle? If yes then please give details.

A- Tourism's role in employment and wealth creation, its contribution to GDP, its rate of growth has forced all players in government & private to think of PPP. No sector can solely depend on government funding. For speedy growth & for reaping the benefit from the sector in time, private participation in projects & government facilitations can only lead to desired results. MTDC has been implementing PPP since last two decades. Almost 30 of its properties are run by private entrepreneurs. To give further boost to PPP Maharashtra has been preparing shelf plan for Tourism development. The state has introduced an investor friendly tourism policy, a pragmatic land policy & package scheme of incentives to investors in tourism sector. Plans are afoot to work on first of its kind special entertainment zone near Mumbai with a large investment from private sector.

5/ What steps are being taken in terms of infrastructure to hold increased flow of tourists to Maharashtra?

A- To cater to increased inflow of tourist to Maharashtra, the following steps are being taken:
oFour-fold increase in Tourism budget as compared to last Five year plan.
oResponsibility of Infrastructure development for tourism shared as follows
Forest Department - Forest & Eco Tourism.
Rural/Urban Development - Pilgrimage Tourism.
Tourism Department - State & National Tourism Projects.
oMega Infrastructure Projects like Rs. 500 Cr Ajanta Ellora Conservation & Development Project & Rs 300 Cr Coastal Tourism Development project have been undertaken.
oNew Tourism Policy, Land Policy and Package scheme of Incentive for attracting private investment to boost infrastructure.

6/ What are your major achievements ?

A- Major achievements are
oBrought tourism within the reach of common man.
oInvestor friendly Tourism policy.
oImplementing mega heritage projects e.g. Ajanta & Ellora conservation & development project and Coastal Tourism Development project.
oThe super luxury train "The Deccan Odyssey".

Who will be new Secretary Culture ?
Who will be new Secretary Culture in the Government of India ?.Name Karnataka cadre 1972 batch IAS officer Abhijit Sengupta has started doing the round. The post is falling vacant this month end.

Was Mrs.Sonia Gandhi misled?

Was Congress chief Mrs.Sonia Gandhi misled about consequences of Congress sticking to the Indo-US nuclear deal? Answer to this question is yes, as she is quite upset about the volte face that Prime Minister Dr.Man Mohan Singh & she had,done over the deal.

Kakodkar gets extension

For the third time Secretary Atomic Energy Anil Kakodkar has been granted two years extension.He was due to retire next month end.

Nair also gets extension

Secretary in the Department of Space G Madhavan Nair has been given two year extension in service. He was to retire by this month end.

Will JNPT Chairman go ?
Chairman of the Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust Syed Shahzad Hussain is reportedly on his way out. Shipping Minister is said to be unhappy with Hussain - 1976 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre.

Champak Chatterjee to join CAT next month
Secretary Elementary Education is the Government of India Champak Chaterjee is joining the CAT in Kolkata next month. He is 1971 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.

Minimum basic pay to be Rs 6500 !
The Sixth Pay Commission headed by Justice B N Shrikrishna is reportedly going to recommed Rs 6500 as minimum Basic Pay for the Central Government Employees.

CBI not to take DIG level officer
CBI has decided not to take DIG level officer on deputation. Reason-about eight officers of this rank already in the CBI are soon to get promotion to the rank of DIG.

File of Prasad cleared
Ratneswar Prasad is going to be the next CBDT chairman. Finance Minister P Chaidambaram is believed to have cleared the file of the appointment of 1970 batch IRS officer Prasad.

Former IFS officer joins BJP in Himachal Pradesh
Senior most Indian Forest Service officer K K Gupta who quit the service two months ago has joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in Himachal Pradesh. 1971 batch IFS officer was Secretary National Commission for ST in Delhi before leaving the job.

1993 batch IPS empanelment in January
Empanelment of 1993 batch IPS officers to the rank of DIG in the Government of India is expected to take place in January.

Race for DG Forests hots up

The race for the post of Director General (DG) of Forests has hot up. There nearly a dozen contenders for the job. Efforts are afoot to get such an incumbent appointed as DG Forests who has a minimum of one year of service to go from the date he assumes charge.

Making Money by Counting Waves -- ISS Style
After UP, now it is the turn of Union Ministry of Statsitics & Programme Implementation. G K Vasan, Minister of Statistics & Programme Implementation is believed to have ordered a CBI inquiry into the recruitment of Contract Employees by NSSO during 1996 to 2002. Many heads are likely to roll including those who enjoy the status of the rank of DDG, ADG and DG today in ISS. Those who have taken retirement are also under scrutiny.

Patnaik to be first Police Commissioner in Orissa ?
Anup Kumar Patnaik is likely to be appointed first Police Commissioner in Orissa. He is 1977 batch IPS officer.

Will Tiwari be DG All India Radio ?
Now the name of Rajendra Kumar Tiwari has started doing the round for the post of DG All India Radio. He is 1985 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Arunachal Pradesh CS proceeds on leave

Tabom Bam Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh has proceeded on a month's leave. It may be stated that Arunchal Nyshing Students Union (ANSU)was up in arms against Bam who is an IAS officer of the 1977 batch & belongs to the AGMU cadre.

1983 batch IAS officer K.K.Sharma is CS Arunachal Pradesh

K.K.Sharma is Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh.Sharma is an IAS officer of the 1983 batch who belongs to the AGMU cadre.He was appointed after Tabom Bam proceeded on one month's leave.

Panel is ready for Bangkok post
A panel of three candidates Anil Gupta, Neh Srivastava & Dheeraj Bhaskar all from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry is believed to have been been prepared for the post of Research Officer in Embassy of India at Bangkok. The panel is awaiting approval of the Minister. None of the outside candidates were been considered for this assignment.

Centre getting a list of sick officers prepared
As the grapevine has it the Indian Government is getting prepared a list of such CMDs/MDs in different public sector undertakings(PSUs) who are not keeping a good health.

Laxminarayanan joins Khemka Group
S Laxminarayanan has joined the Khemka Group of Companies in India as Director (Corporate Affairs).He is retired 1970 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Nitin Chandra joins GoI
Nitin Chandra has joined the Government of India as Director Rural Development. He is 1990 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre.

Shah Rukh Khan at Gandhis' place

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has become a permanent fixture at residence of Priyanka Vadhra & her brother Rahul Gandhi.During his recent tour to Delhi he spent entire evening with Rahul Gandhi & his friends. At length they are reported to discussed many issues. King Khan had understandably suggested promoting a young Muslim leader who could have a rapport on behalf of the Congress with youth among Muslims. Though,Rahul Gandhi was in agreement with Shah Rukh Khan,he felt that certain elements were creating hurdles.

FORUM

Faith & belief are the foundation stone

Faith & belief are the foundation stone for any relation. These are the tools for achieving any goal or objective.To have faith, first of all, we must have confidence in self. Faith is encouraged by hearing the testimony of those who have faith. Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience. Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it it is believed one can command the elements and/or heal the sick, or influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants. Also, it is by faith that one obtains remission of sins and eventually can stand in the presence of God. All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge othervise, it cannot produce the desired results. A lack of faith leads one to despair, which comes because of iniquity.
Thus faith plays a vital role in our personal and official life as well. So do take care of yourself and have faith in self and others. This is the mantra of successful life.

Hemant Chauhan.

TAIL-PIECE

A man is! taking a walk in Central park in New York. Suddenly he sees a little girl being attacked by a pit bull dog.
He runs over and starts fighting with the dog. He succeeds in killing the dog and saving the girl's life.
A policeman who was watching the scene walks over and says: "You are a hero, tomorrow you can read it in all the newspapers:
"Brave New Yorker saves the life of little girl".
The man says: "But I am not a New Yorker!"
Oh then it will say in newspapers in the morning:
"Brave American saves life of little girl" the policeman answers.
"But I am not an American!" - says the man. Oh, what are you then?"
The man says: "I am a Pakistani!"
The next day the newspapers say: "Extremist kills innocent American dog"

Contributed by-Col Satish Dewan

Aaj Ki Aawaz

Hadn't Manmohan made it known that he'd resign if the Deal fell????
This was what his spin Doctor Baru used to tell!!!

Now Manmohan says if Deal falls there's more to life,
But insiders say Manmohan feels in the back he's been stabbed with a knife!!!

Has the Deal really been binned????
On the Deal has Congress been pinned???

Though Commies are going to town telling all they've won the battle,
Very soon ho sakthe hai rattle!!!!

Basically Congress has not been able to do decisive psephology!!!
And Sonia's not convinced with anyone's analogy!!!

Congress cannot get a majority on its own and will have to depend on old Allies!!!
Allies are today like ' in the air pies'!!!!

And by the looks of it pies like RJD, NCP and Karuna could end up on Congress's face,
All three in their strongholds have fallen from grace!!!!

Commies too will get a thrashing in polls that they'll never forget!!!
Just 20% of present strength they'll get!!!

Maya and Jaya are considered too ambitious and unreliable,
Congress is trying to make dosti with SP but SP does not seem pliable!!

What Congress needs to think is that will its own prospects improve by 2009???
Or will there be an anti incumbency whine???

One big worry for Congress is what if monsoons fail in 2008,
Price rise could seal Congress's fate!!!

There is no doubt that Congress will now embark on an appeasement spree!!
The Indian Voter has smartened and knows nothing comes free!!

Laloo is hoping that by 2009 for Nitish anti incumbency will set in!!!
And then in elections Nitish he'll be able to pin!!!

For Pawar there's no such hope…. in fact matters will get from bad to worse!!
Where NCP is concerned in Maharshtra it's already in the hearse!!

Amma's prospects in TN will only improve unless Karuna does some jadoo toona!!!
And form driving a racing car to the election finish line Amma lands up riding a Luna!!!

Yes in 2009 Maya's going to be on the back foot!!!
For every hurrah there's going to be a hoot!!!

BJP's biggest problem is its Neta woes!!!
Neta, Neeti and infighting have made BJP hit new lows!!!

Would be ideal of BJP Leaders decided that lets first fight the election,
And then we'll decide on the Neta's selection!!!

In BJP ruled States BJP Sarkaars are facing anti incumbency,
And against BJP there is Voter despondency!!

But some innovative tinkering can reduce the loss,
Reality should be biting and BJP badly needs to floss!!

So my friends in the end as of now Politics has taken front seat,
India's interests Politicos ne kiya hai unseat!!

India no longer matters,
India's future depends on Laloo, Pawar, Karat and Bardhan kind of mad hatters!!

Now its come to light all the Harvard praises were paid off affairs!!!
Railways paid for the student's 'Laloo hoorah' trips including return air fares!!!

He's doctored the Railways balance sheet and paid for the hoorahs he got,
A lesson to his fellow politicos he's taught!!

Where there is a will to get kudos there's a way,
And with ingenuity for the kudos one can make the Government pay!!

Sharukh says to become a politician he's too materialistic and selfish,
Vadra couple went red in the face after all Mama too is political pond ki fish!!

Sonia said that in Congress Rahul will have to make his place!!!
There was a wry smile on every face!!!

Seems Sonia thinks she was addressing a crowd of fools or dolts!!!
And she also hinted there will be responsibility given to Congress colts!

So Pilot and Scindia can rub their hands in glee….reshuffle is on the cards!!!
And there could be Ministerial berths for these two Congress wards!!!

Mukesh Ambani Fresh dreams have gone sour,
Rather than opening one Fresh outlet every hour he closes one every hour!!

Now with Fresh having gone sour Reliance is in a tizzy!!
Making alternative plans Mukesh's think tank is busy!!

The importance of veggies and other food items is evident from the 'Fresh' name,
In a way Reliance's retail foray's gone lame!!!

Taking a page from Badal Junior's book now Mukesh wants to train pilots!!
Within Reliance this project he pilots!!!

Reliance will pay for training employees or their near and dear to fly,
Reliance's captive passenger traffic and cargo airline will in the future ply!!

Confucius says….. every Country has its own compulsions!!!
Every Country has its own levels for acceptability and repulsions

Bharat Kumar

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CORPORATE

Bhargava is ED (Corporate Communication ) NACIL

Jitender Bhargava is the Executive Director (Corporate Communication) of the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), the new company into which Air India and Indian have been merged.

ONGC man to be Director Finance OVL !
This is now certain that ONGC man will join the OVL as Director (Finance).

NACIL CMD to meet Station Managers
NACIL CMD Thulasidas has convened a meeting of all the Station Managers in Mumbai on October 19.

Who will be ED in BHEL Jhansi ?
Who will be ED of the Jhansi unit of BHEL. The present one, VK jain, is retiring in October this year. So far new appointment has not been made.

Global Economists fear a recession

Global Economists have raised a red flag & communicated to the Reserve Bank of India(RBI)that Indian Rupee is in a very danger zone.It may appreciate to Rs.35 to one US Dollar.This might lead to not only software industry collapsing but also setting in an overall recession in the industrial sector.

Muley is GM SBI Chennai Circle
Milind C Mulay has taken over as GM (Network 1) Chennai Circle at State Bank of India. He has been moved from the Corporate office to Chennai.