Foreigners require an Inner Line Permit (ILP) to enter the border State of Sikkim and special permits are required to visit tourism spots like Guru Dongmar or trek along Dzongri areas near the border in West Sikkim which are declared as Restricted Areas. The whole of Sikkim is covered by the Protected Area Regime under Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order of 1958 and Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order, 1963 respectively.
Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has been demanding the Centre for lifting the ILP for attracting more foreign tourists to Sikkim. The proposal of the State Government which has been under the consideration of the Centre has finally seen some endorsement.
In a recent communiqué with the State Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed its decision to delegate additional powers to Sikkim Government for the issue of PAP and RAP.
The State Government is now empowered to issue PAP/RAP to foreign tourists in groups of two or above ‘with a recognised travel agent’ who would act as an escort. Earlier, the permits were given only to foreign tourists in group of four or above.
However, the existing restrictions on the visit of Rumtek Monastery and restriction on the movement of Tibetan refugees need to be enforced, the Centre said.
In another noteworthy relaxation, the Centre has also allowed the State Government to issue the permits to foreign tourists initially for a period of 30 days extendable to another spell of 30 days.
Earlier, only 15 days permit used to be given to foreign tourists visiting Sikkim extendable to another 15 days following an application.
Further decentralising the permit system, the Centre has informed the State Government of its decision to entrust power for RAP/PAP to Tourist Information Centre (TIC) at Darjeeling and Melli in South Sikkim.
Before this, PAP/RAP to foreign tourists was issued only from Rangpo, Siliguri, Delhi and Kolkata.
The demand for allowing Darjeeling and Melli TICs to issue permits was a major demand of the State Government keeping in view of the importance of these two centres for tourism promotion.
The State Government has been putting pressure on the Centre for relaxation of the permit system. It had explicitly told the Centre that restrictive regime imposed by the ILP has discouraged many of the prospective tourists to visit Sikkim.