Poll-bound Bihar gets Rs 600-crore tourism development package

NEW DELHI: The ministry of tourism has given poll-bound Bihar a Rs 600-crore boost to develop tourism activities in the state. The package is part of the mega Rs 1.25 lakh crore announced by PM Modi during his election campaign rally in Bihar.

The incentive will be used to develop Jain, Ramayana and Mahatma Gandhi circuits, a tourism ministry statement said on Thursday. The ministry has allocated Rs 50 crore for Patna Sahib.

"The ministry has decided to consider 7 tourism circuits for development. These include Vaishali and Bodhgaya along with other places in Buddhist circuit, including Vikramshila (Rs 200 crore); Sultanganj to Deoghar project (Rs 50 crore); Patna Sahib (Rs 50 crore); Mahatma Gandhi circuit (Rs 50 crore); Ramayana circuit (Rs 100 crore); Jain circuit, including Champapuri and Pawapuri (Rs 50 crore); circuit for Mandar Hills and Ang Kshetra (Rs 50 crore)," the statement said.

Their development would be carried out through appropriate circuits/cities identified by the tourism ministry, Swadesh Darshan and PRASAD schemes.

In addition to above, based on the findings of the study conducted by the ministry to assess the potential of Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management Chapter in Bihar, ministry of tourism also announced an in-principle approval of a Centre of IITTM in Bihar with budgetary provision of Rs 50 crore.