New Delhi, Feb 24 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today sought an additional central financial assistance of Rs 20 crore for the development of Chitrakoot, a tourist spot and a place of religious importance.

The Chief Minister met Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni here and urged her to increase the central financial assistance to Rs 25 crores for developing Chitrakoot. The Centre has already sanctioned Rs five crore for Chitrakoot.

Mr Chouhan pointed out that Chitrakoot was one of India's prime pilgrim centres. A large number of people visit it every year. While basic facilites had been developed there over the years, the overall development of Chitrakoot,especially of the 'ghats' and 'parikrama', improvement of tourist trails and public amenities, landscaping and signages need to be taken up on an urgent basis.

The Chief Minister requested Mrs Soni to sanction additional funds for Chitrakoot under mega projects at the earliest. He said a detailed project report in this regard had already been submitted by his government recently.

Mr Chouhan thanked the Union Minister for sanctioning central financial assistance for developing the tourism infrastructure in the state for the year 2006-07.

UNI