Efforts of making Jharkhand a tourist-friendly State seem to have started paying, at least in numbers. Official data reflect that the inflow of tourists has increased by 40 per cent in last two years. Revenue, land Reforms, Art and Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Amar Kumar Bauri said that Jharkhand has jumped on the bandwagon of fast growing states in terms of tourism.
Bauri said that the Department of Tourism has taken lots of initiatives under strong leadership and guidance of CM Raghubar Das to make Jharkhand a tourist-friendly State. He said that Das has targeted to develop tourism as an industry. “New tourism spots are being marked and developed to attract tourists. New tourism policies and plans are being carried out. Government is also providing training to the youth especially in sync with requirements of tourism sector. All these have started bearing fruits,” said Bauri.
Bauri added that every citizen of State is a brand ambassador of Jharkhand in himself and whenever he goes outside Jharkhand, he must encourage and invite others to visit this beautiful state at least once.
He said that coming year will be year of employment and tourism.
Meanwhile, the Tourist Information Centres setup by Jharkhand Tourism Department at Shravani Mela 2016 is working efectively for the tourists. More than 27,000 tourists have taken various information from 7 TICs installed at Deoghar so far. The tourists seems to be satisfied with the facility of on spot hotel bookings, bus services and bookings to visit different tourist destinations with route map etc provided to them by Jharkhand Tourism Dept .
Minister, Tourism, Art and Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, Amar Kumar Bauri said that Jharkhand is a beautiful tourist destination and is endowed with natural beauty in terms of hilly terrains, forest etc.
Jharkhand houses several magnificently-built places of worship and spiritual spaces. Deoghar, the sprawling complex that has 22 temples and one of the 12 jyotirlingas, is thronged by lakhs of visitors each year who come to pay obeisance to Baba Baidyanath’s shrine. This year we have made 11 TICs for the convenience of tourist. Their safety is our priority. Welcoming the Kanwariyas to Babadham Bauri said we believe in the tradition of ‘Atithi devo bhava’.
Approximately 5 lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the temple so far. The district administration is maintaining law and order and has its eyes on smooth movement of pilgrims in and around the temple premises.
Crowd management is another challenge for them. Six jalarpan counters have been placed outside the Shiva temple and CCTV cameras have been stalled across the temple complex to prevent from crowd disaster.