“I couldn’t do what I thought before becoming a minister, I could not do what I expected” : Minister of Tourism Shrestha
Kathmandu- “Before becoming a minister, I could not do what I thought, I could not do the work that I expected,” said Jeevanram Shrestha, the outgoing Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, in an emotional mood while leaving the ministry on Monday.
As the Minister of Tourism, he complained that the work of making a policy plan for the institutional development of the tourism sector was not complete.
At the farewell program held at the Ministry of Tourism today, he claimed that the work was incomplete as many works were in the pipeline after working for 183 days as the 39th Minister of Tourism.
According to the details of the Ministry of Tourism, Dr. Hark Gurung became the Minister of State for Tourism in 2034. Jeevan Ram Shrestha took charge of Tourism Minister on 12 June 2079.
He complains that it is ironic that the long-term development of the tourism sector could not take place even during the long tenure of the Minister of Tourism. However, he insisted that his short term of six months was trying to have a long-term strategic impact for the development of the tourism sector.
He said, “Strategic action plans of long-term importance have been initiated as a minister for the development and promotion of the tourism sector. If the new tourism minister follows it and implements it, the tourism sector will take a leap.”
Minister Shrestha mentioned that some works for tourism development are at the stage of getting results and some are in the process of implementation.
He said that the collective efforts of the ministry and subordinate agencies in the work done in policy and structural reform, tourism promotion, protection of cultural heritage, air infrastructure development, etc. have reached the current situation.
He said that the outgoing Minister Shrestha needs to restructure the agencies under the Ministry of Tourism accordingly, saying that only if Nepal can make a leap in the tourism sector, significant achievements can be achieved in the direction of economic prosperity.
He mentioned that even though there have been many political changes in the country, there has been no change in the situation, so it is necessary to make it up-to-date by making institutional and policy reforms.
He mentioned that the outline of the strategic action plan has also been made public by advancing the concept of tourism decade (2023 to 2032) for overall development including tourism infrastructure.
Sorry for not being able to improve the corporation
Shrestha said that even though it is a body of the Ministry, Nepal Civil Aviation Authority is in effect and the condition of Nepal Air Service Corporation is bad and he is sorry that he could not improve it.
“I am saddened that as a minister I could not improve the corporation. The tendency of the concerned bodies to not obey the instructions of the minister, when the leadership is bad, the whole organization will be damaged. To improve the corporation, it is necessary to give the management to the private sector even if it is for a while.
