Centre to celebrate tricentenary of Guru Gaddi in Nanded in 2008

New Delhi, Dec 19 (UNI) The Government is planning to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the 'Guru Gaddi', installation of the holy Guru Granth Sahib in Nanded, on a grand scale in 2008, Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni told the Rajya Sabha today.

In reply to a question by BJP leader S S Ahluwalia demanding that Nanded be placed in the tourism map of India, Ms Soni said that preparations are already underway to celebrate the occasion. A high level committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Co-Chairmanship of Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in which members of Hajoor Sahib and other Gurudwaras of the state are included.

She said that the UPA government is committed to making the occasion grand and arrangements have been made so that lakhs of people could participate in the celebrations.

Ms Soni said that recently the government has agreed to enhance the amount for tourism destination centres from Rs 5 crore to Rs 25 crore while that for circuit development has increased to Rs 50 crore under the large revenue generation scheme.

She revealed this while replying to a question raised by Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Bachchan who wanted to know what the government was doing to improve the image of Mumbai city which was in a ''pathetic condition''. Ms Soni admitted that though the condition of Mumbai was bad, the Centre could not do much as it was the state government's responsibility. The tourism ministry could just act as facilitators and had sanctioned 28 projects worth Rs 60.53 crore during the past three years.

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