Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda on Thursday pitched hard for inclusion of Odisha in the proposed Buddhist circuit.
Addressing the ‘International Meet on Buddhist Tourism,’ organised by ASSOCHAM in New Delhi, Panda said that Odisha has had a special place in the history, art and culture of Buddhism and the State’s rich Buddhist heritage bears testimony to it. Talking about the poor air connectivity, he said, “I’ve proposed to Air India, which provides services between Delhi-Bhubaneswar-Port Blair, to extend it to Phuket to attract Buddhist pilgrims from South Asia and South East Asia.”
He also said that the State Government has made a strong case before the railway authorities to reinstate the services of the IRCTC-sponsored train, which earlier used to go to Odisha, so that the idea to look further east will be justified.
Earlier, while inaugurating the ASSOCHAM event, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Shripad Naik said his Ministry, in its bid to promote Buddhist tourism, is planning to rope in more States to be integrated in the Buddhist Circuit apart from Bihar and UP.
He said, “The Tourism Ministry regularly carries out promotions and holds road shows, exhibitions in the country and overseas Buddhist source markets to encourage inbound tourism to the Buddhist sites in India.”
The Tourism Ministry has also advocated promotion of bilateral tourism ties with South Asian countries of Thailand, Nepal, Sri lanka, Japan, Korea, laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bhutan, Singapore and other countries with sizeable Buddhist population to exchange greater volume of tourists to and fro, said the Minister.