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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".

123 Agreement revival likely

Votaries of 123 Agreement should not give up hopes. Indications are that it will be revived after the outcome of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections.

Six IRS officers to be trained by the US

As many as six Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers have been handpicked for training by the US Government on criminal procedure, credit card investigation & electronic crimes. They are:P.R.Dhayal CIT,Sanjay Bahadur Addl CIT(both from Goa),S.K.Mishra CIT,Amitabh Sinha JCIT(both from Mumbai),D.D.Pandey CIT(C ) & Rameshwar Singh Addl CIT(both from Delhi)

Sanjay Mishra is Director RD
Sanjay Mishra of Indian Railways has joined the Ministry of Rural Development as Director.

Panda is Director Water Resources
Srikanta Panda has joined as Director Water Resources in the Government of India. Panda is 1988 batch IP&TA&FS officer.

Prabhat is Director Personnel
1993 batch IRPS officer Prabhat has joined as Director in the Department of Personnel in the Government of India.

Srivastava on foreign training
1987 batch Indian Ordinance Factory Services officer D C Srivastava has gone on a foreign training.

Mallik transferred to Railway Board
S K Mallik, SAG, FA&CAO(C), East Central Railway has been transferred to Railway Board and posted against the downgraded HAG post of Adviser (AR)/Railway Board being operated in SAG as Executive Director (AR), vice S K Kaushik, SAG, proceeded on deputation.

1986 batch IRPS panel is ready !
It is believed that 86 batch IRPS panel for SAG has been formed.

Longest serving Additional CEO SMVDSB
IAS officer Puneet Kumar has became the longest serving Additional CEO of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB). He has completed about 29 months.

Minutes of Cabinet meeting can not be kept secret
The West Bengal government has admitted that the minutes of a cabinet meeting cannot be kept secret and people have a right to know them. Secretary Cooperatives Rajiv Sinha has reportedly asked the Principal Information Officer to provide an information about the Cabinet decision.

IPS officer to be re-instated
1995 batch IPS officer J G Murali is being re-instated in Andhra Pradesh.

Railway postings
Charanjeet Singh, SA Grade/IRSME/DMW has been transferred to RCF/Kapurthala .R K Upadhyaya, HA Grade/IRSME/Northern Railway on his return from leave has been posted as Chief Administrative Officer/COFMOW. Parmanand Singh, SA Grade/IRSME/West Central Railway has been moved to Southern Railway. Rakesh Bahal, Selection Grade/IRSME/Western Railway, has been appointed to officiate in SA grade on Western Railway itself. B S Dohare, Selection Grade/IRSME/North Central Railway, has been shifted to East Central Railway and appointed to officiate in SA Grade and posted against the SA grade mechanical post created for Diesel Loco Factory at Marhowra/East Central Railway. Girish Kumar, SA Grade/IRSME, South Eastern Railway, has been moved to Eastern Railway. P K Agarwal, SA Grade/IRSME/RDSO, presently working as ED(Carriage)/RDSO has been transferred to DMW. Central Railway, on being relieved from the post of DRM/Jhansi, should be transferred to RCF and posted in the cadre.

Maj Gen Singh takes over in Shillong
Maj Gen Kulwinder Singh Sethi has taken over the reins of 101 Area in Shillong.

New GM NF Railway
Shiv Kumar an IRSE (1972 batch) officer has taken over as General Manager (Construction) NF Railway.

Dhingra gets additional charge

Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Ravi Dhingra has been given additional charge of Chairman State Electricity Board.

Mohanty is DG OCTOPUS in AP

A .K. Mohanty has been appointed as Director-General of Police, Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations (OCTOPUS). He is 1975 batch IPS officer.

Saikia is new Police Commissioner Ahemdabad

S.K. Saikia is new Police Commissioner of Ahemdabad. He is 1977 batch IPS officer G. S. Malik, Kutch Superintendent of Police, has been appointed Deputy Inspector-General (border range).

Mamata Verma is Gandhi Nagar Collector
Mamata Verma is new Gandhinagar Collector. 1996 batch IAS officer Mamata Verma succeeds Sonal Mishra.

Kondap nominated
Dr. N. M. Kondap has been nominated on Governing Council of the UGC's autonomous institution National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Banglore (NAAC) representing as the Vice Chancellor of Deemed-to-be Universities. Dr. Kondap is Vice Chancellor of well known B-School SVKM's NMIMS University, Mumbai.

FORUM

Encounter Specialists

While we are all familiar with the term specialist, like heart specialist, ENT specialist, a new and very dangerous addition has been made in the lexicon, i.e. encounter specialist. While watching one retired police officer on a popular TV channel recounting the special qualities of encounter specialists, I was shocked at his defence and ingenuity in claiming that it was the police department which has kept the country united .He tried to justify killing of businessmen Pradip Goyal and Jagjit Singh as a case of mistaken identity as if it was perfectly in order to catch and kill Yaseen and those whom police decide to eliminate. More than the militants and extremists, an ordinary person is mortally afraid of police to whom killing and extortion come naturally. Latest example being that of mystery death of Rizwan Ur Rehman and role of Kolkata police. All police training schools should do some serious introspection so that they turn out professionally trained humane cops and not some trigger happy monsters who become threat to life and liberty of citizens

Sudhir Chopra

Indian P&T Accounts and Finace Service Officers Excel

The officers of the Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service must thank to the repatriation process as this has given them opportunity to use government authority and administrative powers in the capacity of Controller of Communications in the States. Now these officers are controlling and monitoring the activities of the Service Providers such as BSNL, TATA, Reliance etc. They must give their 100% and prove that they are not only the best finance manager but excellant administrator also. At the initial stage, they have identity crisis and Government has not earmarked CCA office buildings, but they have to show that they are fully capable to perform in the adverse circumstances also.

Hemant K. Dewan

What's in a name!

Rajasthan CM is often criticised by Whispers for her fuedal ways; but look at other CM's of the BIMARU states like UP.
The former CM of Madhya Pradesh was from an old feudal family and was called 'Raja Saheb' by supplicants and 'Diggy Raja' by his innumerable friends. His tours to villages were called 'Gram Sampark'. The new CM Shivraj Singh claims to belong to a poor rural family. His tours to villages are called 'Jan Darshan' giving opportunity to the people to have his darshan. So, who is more feudal - the old fuedal or the new fuedal!

M Prasad

Watch the Pakistan scenerio

The devastating blasts having ripped through Benazir's welcome rally last night need to be seen in the correct perspective by our security establishment. Benazir returned to Pakistan as per her party's (read her own) schedule ignoring the General's advice to wait a little. While to the common mind this may appear to be an insignificant assertion of her will by an ex-PM, for the General who has got used to absolute power for over a decade, this is an unpardonable act of defiance by BB who perhaps overwhelmed by the US patronage has forgotten that it is because of the amnesty granted by the General to her that the prospects of her return could become possible in the first place. The blasts are the General's reminder to her of the basic reality that the boss in Pakistan is Musharraf and Musharraf alone.
BB was saved not so much because of her luck as because of the well planned timing by those who executed the blasts so meticulously that these served only as warning shots without being deadly for the one for whom the warning was meant. Such perfect timing and placing has got to be because of a skilled professional hand and not just the outcome of a freak chance. The little doubt that any one may have about the involvement of the establishment evaporates when one takes into account the public reaction of Mohammad Assad Durani, Pakistan's Information Minister to BB and Zardari blaming the Government for the blasts. "They should be careful while making such statements", Durani said, adding, "this could lead to a backlash".
Our security analysts must also watch out for another dimension of the current developments in Pakistan. For the first time since its creation Pakistan is headed for a complete elimination of the Punjabis from the country's power structure with a Mohajir (Musharraf) as the President, a Sindhi (Benazir) as the PM and another Sindhi (Keyani) as the Army chief. I bet the Punjabi in Pakistan won't take it lying low for long and in political terms this would be advantage Nawaz Sharif who is the only Punjabi to reckon with in Pakistan's power play today. History of Pakistan is replete with events borne of ethnic conflicts and imbalances and the present scenario as well as the shape of things to come must be understood in this context too.

NN Ojha

Will he recommend retirement age 50 Yrs ?

Hemant Chauhan is talking like a politician would! He should know that a change in retirement age has only minimal impact on unemployment numbers but has very favourable impact on other parameters. Will he recommend that the retirement age should be reduced to 50 yrs or the number of posts in the Government should be increased substantially to raise employment levels? He should know that Government employment is unproductive and paid out of tax payer's money.

S K Nagpal

There are many police officers

This is in response to " Can we have faith in police?"
Well, we have black sheeps every where not in police alone. As a matter of fact, most of the malice in policing system is administered from external agencies. For every Rathi and R S Sharma, there are Kiran Bedi, Prakash Singh, Vijaykumar and many many unsung heroes!

Ravi

Retirement age should be raised to 62

Since the government has already started absolving its role as employment provider and commenced development of infrastructure and services facilitating progressive growth of the economy. Its role in the market oriented economy is focused more upon providing welfare and services that enable better governance with modern technology. The cost of providing additional welfare measures and upgraded public services has to be brought down and at the same time revenue generation has to be augmented substantially to match the rapidly growing expenditure. Under these circumstances, extended utilisation of experienced government staff could be very helpful for the govt. This measure would also be gainful in the direction of fiscal management and inflation control, as the government would be able to withhold year-after-year a sizeable amount of cash payable in the form of retirement benefits and subsequent payment of interest on investments made out of it, which would deliver considerable cooling effect on inflationary pressure as the cash flow to the market would get reduced to that extent. The effective salaries payable by the government during the extended period would also not be more than the amount of pension + interest on investments payable in any case. Resultantly, the government would be able to obtain optimal deployment of available resources at virtually no extra cost to the exchequer; and rather add to the national earnings in the form of taxes and GNP. Therefore, I would like to reiterate that the government should seriously consider raising the retirement age immediately to at least 62 keeping in view the economic considerations and welfare necessities the nation.

Satwant

TAIL-PIECE

The Stock Market simply illustrated ... is there a lesson here? Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs10. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at Rs10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at Rs20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to Rs25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey let alone catch it. The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at Rs 35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for Rs 50." The villagers squeezed up with all their savings to buy the monkeys. Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!! !! Welcome to the Market!

Vijay Arora

Aaj Ki Aawaz

In Russia why was Pranab Da rebuffed……. body searched at airport too,
By an old friend of India this was sure the wrong thing to do!!!

After getting the Marxists in India to heckle the Nuclear Deal,
Is Russia now letting India know how it does feel????

Pranab Da should have lost his cool…… ask Karan Thapar about Pranab's ire???
And unleashed on the Russians verbal fire!!

Manmohan is at pains to let all know that he's not resigned,
He shows all the resignation letter he keeps in his pocket and points out that it's unsigned!

Manmohan says BJP is not qualified to comment because of Gujarat holocaust!!!
Wish as Congress's role in the 1984 riots he'd cast!!

Sometimes I feel he just blabs for the heck of it,
After 1984 riots how can Congress give BJP shit (slang for damning)!!!

For three months this Government has been engrossed with just the Nuclear Deal,
'Even if Deal falls life goes on' Manmohan funnily let everyone know how he did feel!!

For three months we've just heard from Congress the Deal will do this or that,
And now very timidly Congress has thrown in its hat!!!

Manmohan should now onwards request Sonia to give her diktats in writing,
Reality after the Deal should by now be biting!!!

Congress is now preparing to rid Rahul Baba of his Baba tag!!!
Henceforth Rahul Baba will move about holding in his hand a business bag!!

Very soon an AIIC session will be held and Rahul Baba could be anointed!!!
PM in waiting he could be appointed!!!

Congressis will be warned not to use the Baba title…. Rahul Ji is how he should be addressed!!!
And if any Congressi addresses him as Baba indiscipline charges will be pressed!!

In the next Parliament session Rahul Baba will start speaking,
Only his voice needs some tweaking!!

He's got a Sachin kind of voice……too Babaish he sounds!!!
Leader of the stature he's being promoted as should have a voice that resounds!!

Why doesn't he try Yoga exercises for his vocal chords….or take hormone shots????
Then on his voice no one will be able to take pot-shots!!!

Rahul Baba maybe given the job to enthuse cadres in various NE States and Dilli,
And exposing him to Gujarat will be simply silly!!

In Gujarat Congress is not selling itself but just hoping dissidence will trip BJP in the next poll!!
And for dissidence in Gujarat BJP will pay the toll!!!

To make BJP loose in Gujarat Congress is banking on Keshubhai and his Patel lot,
So you can see how by Congress Gujarat election is being fought!!!

If there is no dissidence BJP will hands down!!
And with dissidence compared to last time seat share will go down!!!

But in Gujarat BJP will come back,
In Gujarat both Leadership and credibility karti hai Congress lack!!!

Now Pawar is blaming BJP for the Wheat shortage!!!
Hope you've heard of the ' chor machaye shor' adage???

Pawar single handed has made India insecure on the food front...food insecurity!!
Has punched a huge hole in India 's Food Security!!

Seems Papa Badal wants to resign …dare kiya Media ko,
Said if they proved Talwandi was at the meeting he'd resign and if not Media should go!!!

A Press report said that a meeting Talwandi had said Junior Badal should take over from Papa!!
And this has caused all the siyaapa (controversy)!!!

Media printed a photo of the meeting in which Talwandi is seen present,
Photograph to Badal has also been sent!!!!

Of course Badal will say date cannot proved….. photograph is of a meeting some time back!!!
Excuses mein koi Politician nahi karta hai lack!!!

On nephew Manpreet's statement Uncle Badal said 'Not FM but Cabinet's domain',
Now in the Cabinet will Manpreet remain????

But Badal should realize that for Fiscal woes Manpreet takes the fall!!!
On Finance related issues shots FM karta hai call!!

Another example of chor machaye shor is Aussies lamenting sledging!!!
And now to pay India back in the same coin Aussies are pledging!!!

Sledging is very much an Aussie practice…. Master's at this!!!
In every match an Aussie fieldsman tells the Batsman ' Love to love your sis'???

Aussies are rough and crass…….. so why are they shedding croc tears?
More like dacoits expressing on being robbed fears!!!!

Stock Market is correcting,
You can say the froth is setting!!!

Wonder why CNBC's Anchor Udhyan is so against PN reforms and is lamenting SEBI's step!!
He should be reminded that in such matters regulator cannot move step by step!!

Confucious says….. never believe on the Market's a Fund Manager or Anchor's outlook!!!
They'll just make you put in more money by hook or crook!!!

Bharat Kumar

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CORPORATE

Srinivasan is Chairman of United India Insurance

G. Srinivasan has taken over as CMD of United India Insurance Company Ltd, Chennai,

Dua is MD of Keltron

Om Prakash Dua has taken over as Managing Director of Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keltron).

Suseel Kumar is LIC's Regional Manager (Marketing)

T C Suseel Kumar has been posted as Regional Manager (Marketing) of the LIC in charge of the Karnataka Region.