Punjab on tourists’ map

The Badal government can justifiably boast of developing Punjab as a tourist destination — the launch of the amphibious bus project at the confluence of the Beas and Satluj rivers being the latest attraction. The Virasat-e-Khalsa at Anandpur Saheb, the Amritsar makeover with a majestic entry gate, the heritage look to the corridor from the Town Hall to the Golden Temple, the Partition Museum, the facelift of 170 buildings in the heritage street surrounding Harmandar Saheb, the war memorial on the Amritsar-Attari road and the water bus ride at Harike — all should lure tourists, creating employment opportunities.  

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Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has taken personal interest to ensure that all works are completed before his party, Akali Dal, faces the electorate. In the rush to do things before the code of conduct is announced, his water bus project got embroiled in controversy. When Sukhbir had announced that buses would run in the canals of Punjab, he was mocked. On Monday he said he had kept his promise. The much-hyped launch of the 10-minute bus cruise was not without hiccups. Additional water was released in the Harike wetland lake for the bus to float which, reports indicate, submerged crops in 500 acres. The water bus project has been grounded and the reason given is staff required training in Goa. This shows lack of preparedness. 

 Questions are asked whether the state with an empty treasury and under heavy debt should experiment with such hare-brained ideas. Economic reformists unanimously advocate that “the state has no business to be in business” and it should not do what the private sector can do better. The government is obligated to wisely use the taxpayers’ money, doing what people need rather than building its political fortunes at the state’s expense. Cleaning up the polluted rivers and replenishing the fast-depleting groundwater should be a priority. Private players can be roped in to run water buses, if viable. Besides the Bhakra Dam, Punjab has a great many yet-to-be developed places of tourist interest, including wetlands and river water sports. But this should be done within the environmental limits.