Odisha Sites To Get Iconic Heritage Tag Soon: Union Minister

New Delhi: Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Tuesday said Odisha will get the iconic heritage status very soon.

Patel said this at the State Tourism Ministers’ Conference here. While referring to Odisha, the minister said Puri and Konark thoroughly deserved a place in the iconic heritage list as no one can ever ignore these two places.

Referring to the omission of these two places from the list, the minister said it was due to the fact that there was no specific information in the Odisha document regarding the iconic heritage tag.

He also said that the conference will provide a platform for the ministry to apprise the states and Union Territories about new initiatives taken and those in the pipeline in order to get valuable feedback from them as well as to learn about their initiatives taken to develop tourism.

Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to the Union minister on July 10, urging him to consider the inclusion of at least two important tourist sites from Odisha in the list of iconic tourism sites.