Rs 25-cr Buddha museum opened Sep 14, 2013, 07.02AM IST TNN [ Law Kumar Mishra ] PATNA: The state government is taking several measures to build infrastructure for facilitating travel to the Buddhist sites in Bihar, said chief minister Nitish Kumar while addressing the inaugural function of the Buddhist museum at Buddha Smriti Park near Patna Junction on Friday. Princess Ashi Kesang Wangmo Wangchuk of Bhutan inaugurated the museum constructed at a cost of Rs 25 crore. It will have statues of Buddha based in different postures. The CM hoped the culprits of July 7, 2013, explosions at Bodh Gaya shrine would be arrested soon. He said the incident, which took place at the place from where message of peace was propagated throughout the world, had hurt him. "Security at Bodh Gaya has been tightened further after the explosions. All shops located on the temple premises have been removed and no vehicle is allowed near the historic pilgrimage centre. Only battery-operated vehicles are allowed near the complex. No highrise building would be allowed near the Bodh Gaya temple. Now, Bodh Gaya is quite safe," he declared. The CM said such incidents had not deterred the tourists from coming to Bihar and claimed that 1.2 million foreign tourists would visit the state during the season beginning October. According to him, 21 million tourists from different parts of the country are expected to visit Bihar in the next six months. "Bihar government is developing a four-lane Patna- Bodh Gaya highway and it would provide land for expanding the Bodh Gaya international airport as well. The state government has planned to construct two new bridges over the Ganga linking north and south Bihar to facilitate easy movement to the Buddhist pilgrimage centres of Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Sarnath. A six- lane bridge over the Ganga at Bakhtiarpur in Patna district and a four-lane bridge over the river to link Patna with Chhapra is also proposed. Buddhist tourists can travel to Kesariya and Nandangarh easily with the construction of two more bridges over the Ganga," the CM said. Cultural adviser to CM, Pawan Kumar Verma, was also present on the occasion.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 08:14:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015