New Delhi, May 9 : The DoNER ministry has proved a point: it will cost just an extra Rs 50 crore to bring the Northeast closer to the “mainland” and, at the same time, boost tourism in the region.
After a protracted battle with the finance ministry on relaxing leave travel concession (LTC) rules for government employees, the Centre has finally agreed by allowing them to travel by air.Sources in the DoNER ministry said the government was expecting nearly 50,000 government employees to avail of the advantage. “Considering that there are 50 lakh employees, this is a small number,” an official said.
Domestic tourism apart, the government wants people in other states to know about the culture and sensibilities of the seven sister states and Sikkim.
For the past three years, government employees have been travelling to Jammu and Kashmir after rules were relaxed for the state. Employees have also availed of the facility to fly to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The new rules will apply to employees irrespective of their grade or post and the order will be effective for two years, sources in the ministry of personnel said.
The Centre’s decision comes after a spirited fight put up by DoNER minister Mani Shankar Aiyar who floated the idea.
According to the revised rules, Group A and B central government employees will be entitled to travel by air from their place of posting or the nearest airport to a city in the Northeast.
Employees belonging to other categories will be entitled to travel by air to a city in the region from Calcutta or Guwahati.
There are more than 225 flights per week to the Northeast at present, making air travel easier for tourists.
All central government employees will be allowed to convert a block of hometown LTC into LTC for destinations in the region.
The sources said the personnel ministry would maintain data on the number of employees availing of LTC to the region.
This would mean that states like Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh would need a better system of issuing inner line permits that non-Nagas or non-Arunachalese are required to carry to enter the states.
The Centre’s decision will enable government employees in junior grades to visit the scenic Northeast, which has remained a distant dream because of high costs of air travel and absence of official entitlement.
Last year, Aiyar had called a convention of government employees in a bid to clear myths about the region, the most glaring of them being militancy.
Though the finance ministry had not cleared Aiyar’s proposal, he told government employees that if the Centre wanted to bring the Northeast closer to the so-called mainland, the new LTC rules needed to change.
Telegraph India
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