The Jharkhand stall at the travel fair in Calcutta. Telegraph picture

Calcutta/Jamshedpur, Aug. 22: The state tourism department bagged yet another award this week for the “most innovative product” at the Travel and Tourism Fair, which concluded in Calcutta.

But the beaming officials had no clue about what the department had done to promote “eco-tourism” for sustainable tribal development. Ignorant about the concept, they invited this correspondent to Ranchi for details.

The award, bagged by the less-than-impressive Jharkhand stall tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the sprawling fair, mystified most. Stalls of Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal were more impressive than Jharkhand’s.

Two hired receptionists handed out brochures and two tour operators promoted packages to Ghatshila and Netarhat. Posters and paintings adorned the background. A promotional film played on TV and handicrafts were sold. Tribal folk dancers and traditional drums drew in the crowd. But all the glitz could not hide the fact that PR and hype had triumphed over substance.

The document, procured from the organisers, claimed that Jharkhand is developing villages as tourism hot-spots… and one such village is coming up in Potka Block near Jamshedpur.

Later, officials said the Potka project was not related to eco-tourism but to rural tourism project promoted by Kala Mandir in Jamshedpur.

There is not a single eco-tourism project on the ground in Jharkhand that could have been showcased. But a clever and glib presentation had done the trick.

The state tourism department, which has held road shows in London, Berlin and Switzerland, appears to be hoodwinking not just the tourists and people of the state, but also organisers and the jury of travel trade fairs.

Tourism fairs are clearly generating more tourism for department officials than drawing tourists to the state.

What’s next? TTF at Ahmedabad in September.