TBM Staff - Mumbai To streamline development of tourism policies across Maharashtra, the state Tourism Department will now appoint the deputy collector as the District Tourism Officer, instead of additional district collectors. This is meant to reduce the burden of work on additional district collectors and help with developing tourist destinations in Maharashtra. The officers will be in charge of implementing the Maharashtra Tourism Policy 2016 at the district level, track development of all tourism projects in their jurisdiction, ensure the state gets all requisite permissions for proposed development projects of the Tourism department, coordinate with the state government and the department for permissions, and oversee implementation and expenditure for all projects of the department.
The state government has also decided to appoint third party contractors in 10 districts – Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Solapur, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Osmanabad, Nanded, Buldhana, Gondiya – to assist district tourism officers in streamlining work. The contractors in these districts will report to the Tourism department office.
A senior official said, “This is for effective development of tourist destinations. The decision to appoint additional district collectors in 2021 meant that they were burdened with additional work.” (Source: The Indian Express)
