The local bodies
will get 30 per cent of the mountaineering royalty, according to the new
guideline.
The government
has endorsed Mountaineering Royalty Allocation and Distribution Guideline 2014
that will enable distribution of 30 per cent of the royalty raised from
mountaineering activities to local bodies.
The
guideline endorsed on February 9 with an immediate effect will help the
government distribute the piling royalty amount in the government coffer due to
lack of guideline.
Though, the funds
were allocated partially in the past and it had to be approved by the Finance
Ministry.
Earlier, in Local-Self
Government Act enforced in 1999 had provision of allocating royalty for the
development of mountain regions. But it could not come into effect. Locals of
Upper Mustang and other mountainous regions have been staging protests and demanding
their royalty share as provisioned by the Local-Self Government Act.
Currently,
the government owes more than Rs 300 million in royalties to 11 mountain
regions.
In September
2011, locals of Upper Mustang even warned of barring tourists from entering the
district unless the government gives it its share. Locals have been blaming the
government for allocating nominal funds in the districts that mobilise the
highest mountaineering royalty.
According to
the new guideline, Tourism Ministry will mobilise royalty through District
Development Committees in the form of subsidy. The DDCs have to send their
progress reports – on the mobilisation of the royalty – to the ministry
annually. "The regions that get more than Rs 5 million annually have also to
prepare a tourism master plan."
The
guideline also directed the royalty to be used for development and upgradation
of tourist road, trekking trail, base camp, porter’s shelters, rafting, home
stay and preserving tangible and intangible cultural heritage. " The
amount should be used for the development of adventure sports activities,
airport infrastructure, promotion of tourism products and exploring new
destinations," it has stated.
Annually, the government
collects more than Rs 240 million in mountaineering royalty by issuing climbing
permits for various peaks.
No comments:
Post a Comment