Bharatpur: The hospitality industry has sought the attention of the Centre to consider relaxation of restriction on places of interest to encourage tourism development in Jaisalmer district. Despite being a peaceful border, two thirds of the district comes under ‘Protected Area Permit’ where prior permissions are required for the tourists to visit the places.In March this year, an inter-ministerial committee on tourism has proposed to unlock tourism potential of some restricted areas Arunachal Pradesh and similar steps are under consideration for states like Sikkim which shares international border with China.Speaking on the sidelines of Indian Heritage Hotels’ Association (IHHA) annual convention here, Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur said that there is a need to unlock the vast tourism potential of the PAP areas while keeping in mind the issues of national security.“The defence should keep a reasonable are under the PAP factoring in the security situation and allow other areas for tourism. If more areas opened, naturally it will increase the scope for tourism,” said Maharaja Gaj Singh.Such decisions are taken collectively by the home ministry, defence, and the states concerned. The Union tourism ministry has been working with other departments to open more PAP and Restricted Area Permits (RAP) regions to attract more tourists.Replying to queries about the PAP area relaxation in Jaisalmer at the convention, Lt. General Cherish Mathson, Army Commander, Southwestern Command, said the industry should approach the Centre with proposals.The PAP area covers more than 100 km to the district from the border with Pakistan and the area has forts, temples and the desert, which can be an attractive location for for camel safaris, film shootings and car rallies, etc.“The protected area has been a big handicap for the industry expanding tourism activities and deepening the product mix which is need of the hour. We want the Centre to consider withdrawal of PAP from the non-sensitive areas. Moreover, here the borders are very peaceful,” said Vikram Singh, a hotelier in Jaisalmer.Recently, Jitendra Singh Rathore, another hotelier of Jaisalmer had a letter to the secretary of home ministry to consider withdrawal of restriction on places of interest for developing tourism around Jaisalmer but has not got any response.

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