Union tourism minister Ambika Soni admires a Buddha statue at Indian Museum on Tuesday. (PTI)

Indian Museum and National Library have made it to a list of the country?s top tourist draws, announced Union tourism and culture minister Ambika Soni in Calcutta on Wednesday.

?We?re identifying 30 flagship sites across India that can be promoted globally. These include Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra. In Bengal, National Library and Indian Museum qualify,? said Soni. ?Indian Museum is probably the best museum in the world and has tremendous educational value.?

On Tuesday, the minister spent several hours touring the museum and the library, before meeting Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and state tourism minister Manab Mukherjee.

Refusing to dwell on the funds allocation for the tourist hotspots, she said the process of identification of the sites was on and that she would approach the Union finance ministry shortly. ?However, we will keep the project out of the usual rules, regulations and restrictions. We?ll give special concessions to the sites,? she stressed.

Soni also welcomed the governor?s plans to rejuvenate BBD Bag and Strand Road. The project will include illumination of important buildings and pedestrian plazas at BBD Bag. ?The governor has proposed that the Archaeological Survey of India take up the Old Mint on Strand Road and beautify it. We will forward the proposals to the Union tourism ministry,? said Mukherjee.

The plans include riverfront beautification.?We?re planning to support a river tourism programme revolving around the Hooghly,? stated Soni.