NEW DELHI: The Union Tourism Ministry has embarked on a process to appoint a consultant for setting up of Central Program Management Unit (CPMU) for its ambitious National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) scheme.
With CPMU, the ministry aims to expand the scope and effective implementation of plans under the PRASAD scheme, whose mandate is to achieve integrated development of the pilgrimage and heritage destinations across states.
Besides providing technical assistance to the ministry, the consultant will also help in the selection of pilgrimage destinations and heritage cities and the preparation of an integrated or a detailed perspective plan (DPP) for the identified pilgrimage destinations.
According to the officials, the request for proposal (RFP) for the selection of the consultant has already been issued and the process may be completed by the end of next month. The confirmation for the appointment of the consultant is likely to arrive early next year.
The PRASAD scheme was launched in 2015 to spruce up infrastructure or to upgrade a destination or city. This includes the improvement of all entry points such as railways stations, bus stands, or designated points for water transport and various other facilities including tourism information centres, ATM, money exchange counters, last-mile connectivity, eco-friendly modes of transport, light & sound show, parking facilities, toilets, craft bazaars, cafeteria, internet connectivity and wi-fi hotspots.
The scheme was devised on the rationale that the growth of domestic tourism in India largely depends on pilgrimage and heritage tourism. And to tap this potential, there is a need for holistic development of the selected pilgrimage destinations and holistic development of heritage cities in cooperation with stakeholders.
According to the ministry, since PRASAD's launch, it has sanctioned 37 projects in 24 states with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,214.19 crore. Initially, the scheme entails completing the implementation development in nearly 50 destinations and 15 heritage cities.
As per the scheme guidelines, evaluation of detailed project reports (DPRs) submitted by state or union territory (UT) governments will be one of the key responsibilities of the consultant.
The consultant appointed for the CPMU will also coordinate and provide handholding support to the state and UT governments for timely submission of the DPR in compliance with the guidelines and toolkit.
Preparation of model RFPs for selection of state-level management units, regular maintenance of both online and offline systems for scheme monitoring, and submission of periodical progress will also be the duty of the consultant.