Bhopal, May 23: Minister of State for Tourism Tukoji Rao Puar has said that Madhya Pradesh would be made a leading state after tapping the possibilities of tourism development. Puar was inaugurating Buyers-Sellers Meet 2008 which was organised to convert old fortresses and palaces into heritage hotels. In all, 15 buyers and 17 sellers took part in this second meet.

Puar said that Rajasthan, Gujarat and other states might claim to be leading state in tourism, but last year's national award for tourism development has been won by Madhya Pradesh last year. He said that the present state government has succeeded in bringing Madhya Pradesh in the list of leading states by giving special attention to tourism sector. The state government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan would not let the state lag behind other states in any sector including tourism.

Puar said that Madhya Pradesh has large number of forts, fortresses and palaces which can be converted into heritage hotels. The rulers of erstwhile states have agreed to sell or lease out their buildings for this purpose. He exhorted the buyers to purchase these buildings and convert them into heritage hotels. He said that Madhya Pradesh government would play the role of facilitator and buyers and sellers would not face any difficulty. He informed that there are 725 heritage properties in the state out which only a few are disputed ones and some are in the possession of Archaeology Department. He said that assistance would also be provided to solve the disputes regarding properties.

Tourism Secretary Iqbal Singh Bais said that the Buyers-Sellers Meet held last year has yielded good results and the buyers and sellers who had attended that meet have been in constant discussion with each other. He said that disputes regarding heritage properties would be redressed and Heritage Policy would be amended as per requirement.

Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Ashwini Lohani said that at present there is shortage of rooms at hotels of Tourism Development Corporation and this would benefit heritage hotels. Efforts of increasing rooms at MPSTDC hotels are being undertaken but opening more heritage hotels would also be very beneficial in this regard.

On this occasion, ex-rulers of 15 erstwhile princely states gave details about their properties. These included Udaipur Palace of Vidisha, Gyaraspur fort, Mohammadgarh for, Agra-Barkhera fort, Rambagh Kothi of Manpura, Chandrawat institute of Manasa, Bharat Raj Bhawn of Multhan in Dhar district, Raj Mahal of Kalukhera Ujjain, Tanoria fort of Agar, Jaswant Niwas Palace of Sailana, Piplaliya Rao ki Gadhi of Manasa, Bori Bungalow of Jhabua, Amlot's Raj Bhawan, Ratlam's Kothi Namli, Panna's Panchwati Kothi, Chhappan Jagir of Satna and palace of Raj Gokuldas of Jabalpur.