The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has said that the facilities at India’s 25 Cultural World Heritage Sites are still deficient and require restoration.

While presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Parliament today, the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley has stated that the facilities like landscaping restoration, signage and interpretation centres, parking, access for differently abled, amenities for visitors including securities and toilets, illumination and plans for benefiting communities around them would be restored. The Union Finance Minister Shri Jaitley has proposed to provide resources to start work along these lines for the following Heritage Sites:

1.      Churches & Convents of Old Goa

2.      Hampi, Karnataka

3.      Kumbalgarh and other Hill Forts of Rajasthan

4.      Rani ki Vav, Patan, Gujarat

5.      Leh Palace, Ladakh, J&K

6.      Varanasi Temple town, UP

7.      Jalianwala bagh, Amritsar, Punjab

8.      Qutub Shahi Tombs, Hyderabad, Telangana

Shri Jaitley proposed to extend the Visas on arrival facility to 150 countries, in stages, after the success of the same issued to travelers of 43 countries.

Heritage site facilities restoration to improve accessibility and visitor amenities, paired with phased visa on arrival expansion. Proposed restoration funding will address deficient visitor facilities at Cultural World Heritage Sites, covering landscaping, signage and interpretation centres, parking, access for differently abled persons, visitor amenities including security and toilets, illumination, and community-benefit planning; initial resources are to be allocated to a set of named heritage sites to start this work, alongside a phased extension of the visa on arrival facility to expand tourist access.