Hyderabad, Jan 22 (Reporter) As part of the pre-budget meetings, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka held a meeting with officials of Prohibition and Excise, Tourism, Culture, and Archaeology at the Secretariat here on Monday. During the meeting attended by Excise and Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, Bhatti underlined the need to identify potential sources to augment excise revenue without any increase in the price of liquor. The. The Deputy CM also emphasised the need to evolve a system and frame policy guidelines for establishing elite bars, elite shops, etc., which should follow a uniform and justifiable pattern. He stressed the importance of setting up multidimensional teams comprising the excise, police, and information departments and formulating an action plan to create awareness about the evils of the drug menace. He observed that a proper mechanism should be evolved to check the drug menace. He noted that the state has the highest potential to develop temple tourism and ecotourism. A coordinated effort by the departments of endowment, tourism, and RTC is needed to develop temple tourism in the state. Similarly, many forests in the state can be utilised for ecotourism. “The state is endowed with abundant natural tourist spots, but we are unable to harness their full potential due to a lack of proper marketing," he felt. The officials were asked to come up with a comprehensive tourism policy clearly earmarking the destinations that have to be developed as tourist centres. He said measures have to be taken to expose our cultural heritage to an international audience. Jupally Krishna Rao stated that the government alone cannot take up all tourism projects, and as such, there is a need to formulate guidelines to enable private players to invest in tourism infrastructure projects. The excise department proposed to include the construction of office buildings and the strengthening of checkposts in their budget proposals. Like wise, the tourism department proposed to develop new tourist destinations as well as seek funds for spillover works. Special Chief Secretary Finance Ramakrishna Rao, Special Chief Secretary Excise Sunil Sharma, Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture Sailaja Ramaiyer, and senior officials of excise, tourism, culture, and archaeology attended the meeting...////...