Aiming at attracting more tourists and creating job opportunities, government on Thursday launched a strategy for integrated tourism development of the Buddhist sector in collaboration with the World Bank.
Dubbed as ‘Investing in the Buddhist Circuit’, the Rs 450 lakh initiative would be carried out for development of Buddhist heritage sites in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the first stage. Speaking on the occasion, Bihar tourism minister, Dr Javed Iqbal Ansari, said: ‘Lord Buddha is believed to be the individuality of peace, enlightenment and the state of Bihar is the source of Buddhism in the world. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India along with International Finance Corporation are highly appreciated for this intense and thoughtful effort to signify and promote this in entirety.
‘The international experts of IFC and other team members have developed a commensurate strategy including the facilities and infrastructure development, connectivity, collaboration for implementation and promotion of developed product,’ he said.