Odisha will miss out the elite list of Buddhist Circuits of the country, thanks to the apathetic attitude of the Union Ministry of Tourism.
While the Union Government is moving ahead with a major plan for promoting Buddhist Circuits in the country, Odisha is not figuring in the plan, insiders admit.
It came to the fore from the International Buddhist Conference held recently at New Delhi, where an integrated strategy was discussed at length taking Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat into consideration.
The World Bank support is being roped in for development of these circuits, officials say.
However, Odisha, being a major Buddhist centre, is not figuring in the Buddhist corridors of the country.
In fact Odisha has a strong legacy of Buddhism dating back to the 3rd Century BC. Several sites in the State are endowed with huge Buddhist monuments and heritages. The most prominent are Ratnagiri, lalitgiri, Udayagiri, langudi and Dhauli.
These monuments and heritages attract a large number of Buddhist pilgrims and tourists all over the world.
The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) is promoting the Buddhist Circuit of Varanasi-Bodhgaya-Sarnath in an integrated manner to attract more tourists.
However, the Buddhist Circuit of Odisha is not included in the mega tourism development plan of Buddhist Circuit, for which Odisha will miss a big opportunity to develop these sites, which has hundreds of years of legacy of Buddhism, rued a senior official in Department of Tourism.
In the meantime, the State Government has also approached the MoT to include Buddhist Circuit of Odisha in the National Buddhist Circuit Development Plan.
However, sources said the MoT is yet to take up the cause of Odisha, for which the State having strong bonding with Buddhism is bound to miss the opportunities to develop these Centres.
Similarly, the State Government in the Department of Tourism has time and again approached the Centre to include major spiritual centres in the spiritual circuit and sanction funds for the development of infrastructure.
Major spiritual centres include Akhandalamani Temple, Aradi in Bhadrak district, Maa Biraja Temple in Jajpur district, Maa Sarala Pitha in Jagatsinghpur district and Baladev Jew Pitha in Kendrapada district.
These centres of pilgrimage attract huge domestic tourists all over the year and these places require huge investments for infrastructure development.
Basic amenities are lacking in these places and as the Union Government is funding Spiritual Circuits in the country for last two long years, the Department of Tourism is pursuing the issue with the Centre.
Similarly, under the Swadesh Darshan Programme, promotion of infrastructure facilities is funded by the MoT.
Rural Circuit Zone I was covered with Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Baleswar, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack and Dhenkanal.
And the Rural Circuit Zone II includes Khorda, Puri, Nayagarh and Ganjam.
The State Government has recently approached once again to the MoT to fund these centres of tourism under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, so that rural sector tourism can be promoted in an integrated manner, says an official.