Three departments since August 2025, a 2028 tourism plan, the 2026–27 budget provisions, and a dated list of programmes. Each figure links to the report it comes from.
“The aim is to set Chhattisgarh’s new tourism identity before the country and the world by 2028.”
2028 तक छत्तीसगढ़ पर्यटन की नई पहचान देश और दुनिया के सामने स्थापित करने का लक्ष्य है।
Since 20 August 2025
Three charges
तीन विभाग
Governor Ramen Deka swore him in during the cabinet expansion. The Times of India reported the portfolios the same day.
Tourism
पर्यटन
Destinations, stays, circuits and the 2028 identity target.
Culture
संस्कृति
Artists’ welfare, folk programmes, archives and museums.
Religious Trusts & Endowments
धार्मिक न्यास एवं धर्मस्व
Temple circuits, pilgrimage trains and endowments.
Target year for a national and global tourism identity
2028
Pilgrim trains reported under the Ayodhya–Kashi scheme
61
Devotees those trains have carried
50,000+
Online booking receipts over two years
₹6.48 cr
Departmental briefing of 26 August 2026, as reported by Indian Masterminds.
Briefing · 26 August 2026
The 2028 plan, as he stated it
2028 तक नई पर्यटन पहचान
01
Destinations
गंतव्य
At a press conference in Nava Raipur on 26 August 2026, he set a target of establishing Chhattisgarh’s identity in natural, cultural, eco-ethnic and spiritual tourism by 2028.
Chitrakote and Tirathgarh for natural tourism, with Chitrakote proposed as more than a waterfall stop.
An integrated master plan for Sirpur, and a UNESCO nomination dossier already sent to the Government of India.
Bastar and Surguja for tribal culture; Mainpat and Jashpur for visitor facilities.
Maa Danteshwari and Maa Mahamaya for religious tourism, plus a proposal for the Ratanpur Mahamaya temple area.
A Tourism Policy-2026 giving priority to sustainable development, private investment, community-based tourism and local participation.
02
Investment and stays
निवेश और होमस्टे
The same briefing set out how private capital and village stays are meant to sit alongside public works.
Film-city projects have drawn investment proposals of ₹203.53 crore. A film city and convention centre is being pursued at an estimated cost of about ₹350 crore.
Eighteen tourism properties are planned on a lease-cum-development model, with about ₹500 crore of investment and an estimate of 500 to 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Under the Chief Minister Tourism Development Mission, the briefing described an annual provision of ₹100 crore for five years.
The state has more than 390 registered tour operators and travel agents, and 26 registered hotels. The training target is at least 500 local young people for tourism jobs.
Over two years, online bookings brought in about ₹6.48 crore, and tourism units about ₹31.75 crore.
03
Pilgrimage
तीर्थ और धार्मिक पर्यटन
Religious travel is reported both as a state scheme and as a journey that started from Ambikapur before he joined the cabinet.
Under the Ram Lalla Ayodhya Dham Darshan Yojana, run with IRCTC, the department reported 61 trains so far and more than 50,000 devotees taken to Ayodhya and Kashi.
The Union government has sanctioned ₹145.99 crore for the Bhoramdev Corridor, as stated at the briefing.
Budget 2026–27, as issued by the Directorate of Public Relations, sets aside ₹5 crore for a Shaktipeeth circuit.
On 7 October 2024, as MLA, he flagged off a special train from Ambikapur with 850 pilgrims from all six districts of the Surguja division.
04
Culture and artists
संस्कृति और कलाकार
The culture department’s welfare figures, as he presented them, cover medical help, folk artists and pensions for senior artists and writers.
Artist Welfare Fund medical grants: about ₹30.03 lakh to 70 artists over two and a half years, and about ₹15.30 lakh to 20 artists so far in 2026–27.
Chief Minister Folk Artist Promotion Scheme: about ₹19.08 lakh to 87 artists over two and a half years.
Monthly assistance for senior artists and writers: about ₹82.12 lakh to 407 people over two and a half years, with 121 beneficiaries so far this year.
Bastar Pandum has run at village, block and district level for two years. In 2026 a 209-member delegation met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Programmes such as Pavas Prasang, Rangtarang, Rangparab and Lokrang Parv are platforms for Pandavani, Bharthari, Dadariya, Jasgeet, Karma, Panthi, Bansgeet and Dewar Geet.
More than 12 lakh pages on Chhattisgarh have been digitised and brought to Raipur for a public web archive.
05
Heritage and archaeology
धरोहर और पुरातत्व
Conservation and excavation figures from the same departmental account.
Conservation work covers 63 protected monuments. Facelift plans for 12 state-protected monuments are being prepared this financial year.
The Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur is proposed to gain a Princely States gallery, with upgrades to the galleries already there.
Purkhouti Muktangan is planned to add a light-and-sound show on the state’s heritage, including Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh and Gundadhur.
Excavations have been taken up at 11 sites. At Mrittikagarh, near Rewa in Lakhauli, Arang tehsil, the department reported a settlement about 2,750 years old, with coins from later dynasties.
Issued by the Directorate of Public Relations on 24 February 2026, after he described the budget as a step toward placing Chhattisgarh on the national and global tourism map. Road links from Bastar to Surguja were named in the same note as a way to open local employment.
With the Chief Minister at the festival opening. Reports put Surguja development works announced that day at about ₹523 crore across 109 projects. He said visits to places such as Mainpat were opening self-employment for local young people and women.
