Nayagarh: Nayagarh is a district which has several places of tourist interest but on the World Tourism Day there are no major programmes here, except a rally.
Though there are several tourist spots in the district, there was no effort from the authorities to develop these places, locals said.
There are 14 listed tourist spots in eight blocks in the district. Baramul of Gania, Raghunathjew temple at Odagaon, Dwitikeshwari temple at Jamupatna, Neelamadhav temple at Kontilo, Kuturi Dak Bungalow, Kuanria Dam, Dakhinakali temple in Nayagarh town, Maninag temple at Ranpur, Sarankul Lodu Baba temple, Udaipur library in Nuagaon block, Neelakandar in Bhapur block, Sidhamula Gokulananda peeth, Panchupalli Pragana and the lone Budhist site Jogijogiani peeth in Gania block have been identified as tourist spots by the state government.
Besides, tourists prefer to go to places such as Mahaveer temple in Dasaplla, Sunamuhin temple in Khandapada and Jhardei peeth in Nayagarh town.
However, due to the lack of initiative and absence of proper infrastructure, the number of tourists has been declining here.
“Crores of money are spent for the development of these tourist spots, but the ground reality shows a different picture,” the locals alleged.
The District Tourist Office functions from a small room on the premises of Pathani Samanta Sanskruti Bhawan. Locals said most of the time the office would remain closed.
Crores of rupees have been allegedly spent for the development of Balangibandh, located on the outskirts of the town. But if some tourists go there, they can only find some cement chairs.
Though a foundation stone has been laid at Panchu Pandab hill to develop it as a tourist spot, no further steps were taken for its development.
Notably, not a single foreign tourist has visited the district in the last four years.
The district tourist officer Debadutta Rath admitted that the staff shortage was also one of the reasons that hurt tourism development in the region.
PNN