This following article has been written by Mr.Amit Mittal, Editor of The Blue Moon(Online Travel Magazine),www.indiahoteltravellerreviews.com

The state government’s new policies for promotion of infrastructure for tourism announced last year are, however, highly appreciable. Concessions given to the travel industry like free land conversion will go a long way in boosting infrastructure, only if ‘babus’ holding the chairs in the offices implement the new policies with sincerity. The new policies are not much publicized and appear to have been kept under wraps by interested bureaucrats.

Rajasthan, according to Ms. Punia, has also focused on conservation and restoration of monuments in past four years. However, the minister must personally look at old, neglected havelis (mansions) in the historic Sekhawati region to believe her own department. Places like Nawalgarh, Mandawa, Alsisar are reeling under utter neglect from the administration.

There are innumerable small forts and havelis in the state which are disintegrating or have fallen to encroachments. There is a sizeable number of private entrepreneurs who could take these structures for developing them into tourist resorts.

The Amer Fort has definitely got a face lift, as claimed by Ms Punia. It has a sound and light show tracing the history of the Rajput rulers. The state minister claims to have spent Rupees 150 million on the restoration work in the Amer Palace. The Albert Hall has also been renovated at a cost of Rupees 50 million.

But it is not Jaipur alone where the state tourism department must take up restoration projects, important historic cities must get well connected by road services, at least, which is lacking at the moment. For instance there is no proper bus connection from New Delhi to the historic town of Mandawa or Dundlod.

Domestic tourist movement to these towns is poor in the absence of luxury bus services. Domestic tourist hardly manages to travel to Bikaner as there are no direct connections by surface transport. There is only one train to Jaisalmer, a distance of almost 900 kilometers from Delhi, which takes about 19 hours to reach its destination. There are no more than three air conditioned coaches in this lone train. There are no flights during off season. Obviously Jaisalmer is out-of-bounds for domestic tourist due to lack of transportation facilities.

Rajasthan is rich in heritage, it has a huge, untapped potential in tourism, encouraging policies have been framed, however, implementation is suffering due to lethargy and corruption.