India offering free travel to Government employees

India Government has decided to introduce Leave Travel Concession (LTC) scheme for the employees of Maldives government to travel to India free of cost or with a special discount.

By referring to an Official of India’s Tourism Ministry, Times of India read that India Government was putting effort to introduce the scheme for government employees of Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal.

It was also stated that the purpose of that scheme is to increase the number of people travelling to India.

Official of Tourism Ministry of India said, "Introducing LTC for 20 lakh government employees could encourage greater people to people exchange among the SAARC countries. But there will have to be some reciprocal arrangement. We are working on that."

This scheme is modeled on the scheme introduced by India to government employees who want to travel to Northeast of India and Kashmir. While the person who needs to travel must meet special requirements to travel under this scheme, number of free trips of the individuals, the airline from which tickets have to be purchased and the reasons for travel are considered while offering this scheme. However, the scheme will not cover food and accommodation expenses.

India has made this decision due to the sharp dip in tourist arrivals from all four countries in the last few years.