Railways to start tourism of historical places in Patna

Patna, Sep 17 (UNI) The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation(IRCTC) will introduce a day-long 'Patliputra Darshan' tour programme from October 2 covering major historical places in and around Patna city.

Senior IRCTC sources said here today the tour would begin at 0700 hours every day. Visitors would be taken in air-conditioned buses to a guided tour of historical places in and around the age-old city, previously known as 'Patliputra'.

At a consolidated ticket of Rs 399 per head for both foreign and Indian tourists, the visitors would first be taken to the famous 'Golghar' monument, built in 1786 after the great famine of 1780, by the British rulers for storing 1.40 lakh tonnes of foodgrains and seeds during the period of scarcity and at times of other emergency.

The tourists would then be taken to 'Kumhrar' area on the city's outskirts for a glimpse of the Ashokan era and several historical relics of that period,scattered all around.

After lunch the people would visit the gurdwara of Harminder Saheb in old Patna, where the tenth and the last Sikh Guru, Guru Govind Singh, was born. It is one of the most respected Sikh shrines.

Lastly, the visitors would be taken to Mahendrughat near here which was related to Gautam Buddha and to the famous Patna museum and the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park.

The sources said in absence of any government sponsored guided tour, coupled with inadequacy of creating proper awareness among the people, very few from outside the state or the country could visit these places to know the rich socio-cultural heritage of Bihar.

''We have already made a detailed pre-launch survey of the tour package and found overwhelming response from the people,'' the sources said and hoped that it would open a new vista in the growth and development of the moribund tourism industry in Bihar.

''On the basis of the success of 'Patliputra Darshan', we might try to introduce similar tour programmes in other places also,'' the sources said.

UNI