OM Bureau
On the anvil is a central government plan to develop Buddhist Circuit in 16 States including Orissa with financial assistance from the Japan International Bank for Cooperation (JIBC), revealed Union Minister of State for Tourism, Ms.Renuka Chawdhury at Bhubaneswar on June 1, 05.
Orissa is fabulously rich in Buddhist heritage that needs to be known to the world, she stressed.
In the midst of a three-day official visit to the state, the Union Minister interacted with the Governor and the Chief Minister. She took note of the special tourism project proposed in the vicinity of Puri on 1000 acres of land. She stressed that places like Bhitarkanika and Chilika should be developed as centers of eco-tourism.
She emphasized on aggressive marketing of tourism potential of Orissa, which alone can contribute major share to economic development of the State. “The Central Government will assist in marketing Orissa internationally”, she declared.
Many facets of tourism, including ecological, tribal, historical and cultural, formed the crux of discussion with Ms. Choudhury, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik revealed. She advised the state government to examine if cruise liners off the vast Orissa coast could be profitably introduced.