 bill no 143  of  2015 the eastern region tourism promotion board  bill, 2015 byshri rajesh ranjan, mp a billto provide for the establishment of tourism promotion board for the eastern region of the country and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the eastern region tourism promotion board act, 2015short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appoint2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions5(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in all other cases, the central government;(b) "board" means the eastern region tourism promotion board establishedunder section 3;(c) "eastern states" include bihar, jharkhand, odisha and west bengal; and(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall, within one year from the date of commencement of this act, by notification  in the official gazette, constitute a board to be known as the eastern region tourism promotion board for promotion of tourism in the eastern states5constitution of the national flood and drought control board(2) the board shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract, and shall by the said name sue and be sued10(3) the headquarters of the board shall be at new delhi and a regional office at madhepura in the state of bihar and the board may, with the previous approval of the central government, establish offices in the eastern states(4) the board shall consist of,—(a) a chairperson having vast knowledge and working experience in tourism and hospitality sector to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed;15(b) one member each from the lok sabha and rajya sabha representing each of the eastern states to be nominated by the respective presiding officers of each house of parliament;(c) seven members representing the union ministries of—(i) tourism; (ii) culture;20(iii) finance; (iv) information and technology; (v) planning;(vi) road transport and highways;25(vii) railways; and(d) three members representing the tour operators, to be appointed by the central government (5) the board shall elect from amongst its members, a vice-chairperson who shall exercise such powers and perform such functions, as may be prescribed30(6) the term of the office of the chairperson and members of the board and the procedure to be followed by the board in discharge of its functions shall  be such as may be prescribed35(7) the board may associate with itself in such manner and for such purposes, as may be prescribed, any person whose assistance or advice it may require and the person so associated shall have the right to take part in the discussions of the board relevant to the purposes for which he has been associated, but shall not have the right to vote(8) the salary and allowances and conditions of service of the chairperson and members of the board shall be such as the central government may, from time to time, determine40secretariat of the board4 (1) the board shall have a secretariat consisting of a secretary, a planning advisor and such other officers and employees as the central government may by order determine for efficient discharge of the functions of the board(2) the secretariat of the board shall function under the direction, supervision and control of the chairperson of the board(3) the administrative expenses of the secretariat including salaries and allowances payable to the staff shall  be borne by the central governmentfunctions of the board55 (1) the board shall function as a planning and advisory body for the accelerated and all round development and promotion of tourism in the eastern states and formulate various tourism related schemes for each of the eastern state and address the issues of common tourism interest of eastern states in time-bound manner(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of the sub-section (1) the plans and schemes for development and promotion of tourism may provide for—10(a) accelerated promotion of tourism in each eastern state by way of compilationof tourism related infrastructural requirement of each state by deputing team of experts for making ground assessment of the tourism related infrastructural requirements and making appropriate recommendations;15(b) inter-linking of all the places of tourism importance of all the easternstates by air, road and rail and extending communications, telecommunication and information technology at such places;(c) setting up of tourism facilitation centres at all entry points at the borders ofeach state and at airports and railway stations with a view to provide facilities such as reservation in air services, trains, buses, hotels, motels and guest houses for tourists;20(d) setting up of hotels,  restaurants and motels at all tourism centres with aview to catering to the needs of different categories of domestic and international tourists and recognition of private sector hotels, motels and restaurants for the benefit of tourists in such manner as may be prescribed(e) recognizing and preparing a list of paying guest accommodations at placeswith no facility of hotel or motel accommodation for staying of tourists;25(f) conducting organized tours of different centres of tourism in all the easternstates;30(g) organising cultural functions and events in consultation with appropriategovernment and other organisations concerned at various tourist places in each of the eastern states at regular intervals so as to create awareness among domestic and foreign tourists and general public about the indian culture, customs and traditions and way of life of the people;(h) organising cultural functions in other countries in coordination with indianembassies and high commissions with a view to depicting indian culture and traditions and attracting the foreign tourists to eastern states;35(i) training programmes for tourist guides and tour operators about historicalimportance of tourist places, traditions and culture of each of the eastern states and services to be extended to domestic and foreign tourists;| (                                                                                        | j   | ) recognizing transport and taxi operators and fixing fares to be charged from   ||------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| the tourists;                                                                            |     |                                                                                  || 40                                                                                       |     |                                                                                  || (                                                                                        | k   | ) recognising shops, showrooms and stalls selling handicrafts, local ornaments   || and other such articles in order to prevent fleecing of tourists by unscrupulous traders |     |                                                                                  || and touts;                                                                               |     |                                                                                  || (                                                                                        | l   | ) setting up of health resorts based on indian system of medicines at various    || tourist places in consultation with the appropriate government;                          |     |                                                                                  || 45                                                                                       |     |                                                                                  || (                                                                                        | m   | ) making arrangement for security of tourists particularly foreign tourists at   || various tourist centres in consultation with the appropriate government;                 |     |                                                                                  |(n) co-ordinating with the archaeological survey of india and tourism departments of the state governments of the eastern states with a view to protecting monuments and heritage sites; and(o) making adequate arrangements of public conveniences and amenities such as toilets, urinals, drinking water and sitting places at tourist places56 the board shall give wide publicity to its planning, policies, schemes and programmes for development of tourism in the eastern states through all means of communications including hoardings, banners, posters, booklets and print and electronic media in the country as well as abroadpublicity of the programmes, policies and schemes for development of tourism10annual report7 (1) the board shall prepare, in such form and at such time in each financial year, as may be prescribed, its annual report, giving a true and full accounts of its activities during the previous financial year and submit a copy thereof to the central government(2) the central government shall cause the annual report to be laid, as soon as may be after receipt of the report under sub-section (1), before each house of parliament158 the central government shall after due appropriation made by the parliament by law in this behalf, provide from time to time requisite and adequate funds to the board as well as to the states covered under this act for implementation of tourism development and promotional plans and schemes formulated by the board under this actcentral government to provide requisite funds20power tomake rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act25(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects  and reasonsour country has a vast tourism potential as we have a large number of historical places, monuments, forts, historical and archaeological sites and remains, national monuments, water bodies, beautiful beaches and coastal areas, desert places, gardens, lagoons, etcthe four eastern states are the unique blend of scenic beauty and picturesque locations having different cultures, traditions and many languages most of the tourist centres do not have adequate facilities for the tourists and the state governments are not in a position to spend money for providing the requisite facilities air connectivity and rail services are inadequate the road network including highways and national highways either does not exist or wherever it exists, it is in a dilapidated condition the hospitality sector is in doldrums with no worthy hotel accommodation and so is the travel sector with no worthy fleets of good buses, taxi and other modes there are no tourist facilitation centres the tourists get cheated by middlemen, touts and others such acts and lack of facilities discourage the tourists from visiting these beautiful placesof late, the central government has started to promote tourism in the eastern states particularly in the states of bihar, jharkhand, west bengal and odisha by giving incentives to its employees while availing leave travelling concessions to visit tourist places in eastern stateshence, it is proposed to set up a tourism promotion board exclusively for the eastern states to concentrate upon promoting tourism in that region of the countryhence this bill financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the eastern tourism promotion board clause 4 provides that the central government shall bear the administrative expenses of the secretariat of the board clause 5 provides for certain functions of the board for promotion of tourism in the eastern states and providing of certain facilities for tourists clause 6 provides that programmes, policies and schemes for development of tourism in the eastern states shall be given wide publicity clause 8 provides that the central government shall provide requisite funds to the board and the state government concerned for implementation of schemes for promotion of tourism the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five hundred crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma sum of rupees two thousand crore may also involve as non-recurring expenditure memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 9 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of detail only and as such the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for the establishment of tourism promotion board for the eastern region of the country and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri rajesh ranjan, mp)