Schoolchildren take part in a painting competition organised to mark World Tourism Day at DAV, Shyamali in Ranchi on Wednesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Sept. 27: Tourist spots in Jharkhand are unsafe, uncouth and repulsive — which the visitors rue openly — is a fact that even the officials of state tourism department acknowledge in private.

Worse, the department even failed to present an impressive facade of Tagore Hill — one of the hot spots in the state capital — at least on World Tourism Day today, where it chose to hold a function to mark the occasion.

The event was organised by the department in association with the Indian National Trust for Arts and Culture Heritage (INTACH).

The uninviting confines of the Hill laid bare the department’s tall claims and invited the displeasure of Union minister of state for food processing Subodh Kant Sahay, who took the department officials to task for having “reduced an otherwise refreshing Hill into an eerie site.”

Sahay, who took exception to the filthy staircase and lack of amenities such as lamps on way to the Hill top, said: “In fact, I expected a lot of hustle and bustle here and hoped to see a grandly decorated Tagore Hill. But as I stepped in, it seemed that I was not going to take part in a function to mark the World Tourism Day, rather I was invited to a condolence meeting.”

The minister was sore with the fact that an “indifferent” department could not even keep a tourist spot in the heart of the city in good condition. “Today was a special day, so the tourism department should have embellished the Hill in an impressive way to allure tourists. But it is very unfortunate to see the sorry state of affairs,” the minister said.

Taking a dig at director, tourism, S.S. Prasad, the city MP said: “It should have occurred to you before deciding to organise the function here. I am sure the audience must not have come on their own. They look more like captives than willing listeners.”

The senior Congress leader asked Prasad, who looked embarrassed at his fusillades, to draft a tourism policy, in which participation private parties is stressed. “If you cannot look after a tourist spot on your own, why don’t you hand over it to a private party who can give a better facelift to it,” he said, pointing at Jharkhand chief executive officer of JSW Steel, R.P. Singh, who was the guest of honour on the occasion.

Sahay further said: “The previous NDA government was signing one MoU after another, but nothing seems to have been translated on the ground, as far as the overall development of the state, including tourism sector, is concerned.”

“How do we expect the tourists from outside the state to come and visit the Falls in and around the city and other places, when we ourselves are scared to visit those spots due to lack of infrastructure and security,” the minister asked.

Earlier, talking to The Telegraph, Prasad admitted that tourist spots in Jharkhand hardly instill a sense of security among the visitors. “In fact, we have written letters to the home department and the DGP asking them for deputing police at tourist spots, but we’re yet to receive any reply in this regard,” said the director.

Asked if she wished to visit the Tagore Hill along with her children in the evening, Mallika Bhattacharjee, a teacher at DAV Kapil Dev, replied in the negative saying that there was no security arrangement for the visitors at the spot that wears a deserted look after the sunset.