Tourist flow goes up in Bihar

The initiatives taken by Bihar government to boost the sagging tourism sector has begun to pay dividends as the number of foreign tourists in the state has gone up by nearly six times in three years.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Bihar has gone up from 63,321 in 2005-06 to 3,56,446 in 2008-09, which was nearly six times, state's tourism minister Ram Pravesh Rai said.

Rai said steady and healthy growth in the number of foreign and domestic tourists was the result of state's NDA government's concerted efforts to create a conducive environment and its commitment to provide better security to them.

"People (tourists) are now feeling safe and secured in the NDA regime and that's why they are visiting Bihar in big numbers", Rai said.

The number of foreigners visited the state in 2005-06 was 63,321 which rose to 94,446 in 2006-07. Similarly, it went up to 1,77,362 in 2007-08 and was almost doubled in the very next year to touch 3,56,446 foreigners in 2008-09. More than 1.14 lakh foreigners have visited till the end of April in the current fiscal.

Similarly, there has been steady rise in the domestic tourists also, except in 2007-08 when it showed a little decline. The number of domestic tourists, which was 86.87 lakh in 2005-06, was hovering over one crore in subsequent years and touched its all time high to 1.21 crore in 2008-09.

Realising the huge potential of tourism in Bihar, which was home to a number of Buddhist, Jain and Sikh shrines, the NDA government increased budgetary allocation to tourism department after coming to power in November, 2005.

The government made a substantial allocation from a meagre Rs 7.43 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 29.78 crore in the current financial year (2009-10) which was almost a four-time raise, the minister said.

Rai said the department has formulated a tourism policy to provide impetus to the sector which has also been accorded the status of industry by the state government.

With a view to making travel more convenient for all tourists including foreigners, steps were underway for broadening and strengthening roads linking to Buddhist, Jain, Sikh religious circuits, official sources said.

Talks were also on with several aviation companies for increasing the frequency of international flights connecting Bodh Gaya airport.

To woo the foreigners, the government has decided to build a three and five star rated hotels at tourist spots such as Patna, Rajgir and Bodh Gaya on public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Tourism Police Force would be deployed at Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali in the first phase and subsequently the force would be stationed at all the tourist sites.

The government was committed to develop tourist sites at Vaishali, Jehanabad, Maner, Kesariya, Lauria, Nandangarh, to attract more tourists, the minister said.

The government has plans to launch courses in travel and tourism, hospitality, hotel management, catering guide, tour and travel operator with assistance from Human Resources Development department to promote greater expertise for improved management of the tourism sector. link

Bihar floods: 23 dead, 10 lakh homeless

In Bihar, nature is at its ironic best. The state is split - there is severe drought in one part and now, floods in another. Already, 23 people have died in the Bihar floods and 10 lakh have been displaced.

In north Bihar, when it finally started raining, farmers were a relieved lot. But 10 days later, the rain hasn't stopped and the fear of the drought has been washed away by the fear of floods.

Katihar is the worst affected. The Mahananda river is in spate - its embankment broken, ruin all around. The river flowed into 70 villages and 60,000 people have lost their homes.

Engineers are now inspecting the embankment breach on a boat. Rajeshwar Dayal, Chief Engineer, Public Works Department says: ''We are finding it difficult to source boulders required for the repair work . Also, not many labourers are available. We are trying to plug the breach as soon as we can.''

The villagers are angry. Ranjit Kumar says: ''This is a drama, a waste of government money. All this repair will come undone soon. Why do they build weak embankments in the first place?''

In Madhubani and nearby Darbhanga people have been washed away by flood waters. With them, the paddy and maize in the fields and thousands of homes are a gone.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar says: ''We will survey the losses and compensate all farmers. I have asked my officers to work overtime on this.''

Meanwhile, other parts of the state like Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Gaya, Rohtas, Bhojpur, Buxar, Vaishali, Saran, Sivan Gopalganj, Shekhpura and Nawada are still reeling under drought.link

39 encephalitis deaths, high alert in Bihar

After the death of at least 39 children in Bihar in the past 15 days, a high alert was sounded in Bihar, health officials said here Monday.

Most of the deaths took place at Patna Medical College and Hospital in the last two weeks.

“Several more children are in various hospitals for treatment,” Sanjata Roy Choudhary, head of the paediatric department at the hospital, told.

All the dead were below 10 years and from poor families, she said, adding she also suspected that two or three children died of Japanese encephalitis.

According to hospital officials, most of the fatalities were from different villages in the flood prone districts of Muzaffarpur and Vaishali in northern Bihar.

Choudhary said that she had already informed the departments concerned of the spread of the disease in the region.

Encephalitis, transmitted by a mosquito bite, is a viral infection occurring throughout south, south east and east Asia.link

Daughters are no longer a burden in Bihar

The government of Bihar has launched the Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojna scheme to help the poor fathers with financial aid to married off their daughters well. This decision of the state government has brought a glow into the eyes of the poor parents. The government scheme has put an end to the bad days of poor fathers.

Under the scheme, the state government will provide a financial help of Rs 5,000 for a girl’s marriage to the families whose annual income is below Rs 60,000.

In the financial year 2008-09, the state government under the scheme has distributed around Rs 40 million to more than 78 thousand poor families.

Government will only provide the money for the girls who are married off at their standard age ie, 18 years.

Poor families who married off their daughters before the age of 18 years will not receive this government assistance.

This scheme will not only provide financial support to the girls of poor families in getting married, but will also help in getting rid of the social stigmas like child marriage and dowry.

In Bihar, family planning survey conducted so far revealed that 51.5 per cent of the girls are married off and are sent to their in-laws before their standard age. In Jahanabad, West Chanparn, Nalanda, Supaul, Madhubani, Vaishali, Jamui district, more than 60 per cent of the girls are married of before the age of 18 years. Twenty two districts of the state suffer from the same condition.link

Some relief for Bihar’s arsenic hit villages

High levels of arsenic in the groundwater pose the threat of cancer to people in many Bihar villages, but the state government has finally moved to bring safe drinking water from the Ganga river to some of these areas.

‘Multi-village water supply projects’ have been given the green signal in 200 arsenic-affected villages in three districts.

“The multivillage water supply projects would be launched soon and completed under a timeframe,” said Public Health Engineering Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey.

The projects will cover 130 arsenic-affected villages of Simri block in Buxar district, 45 villages of Bidupur block in Vaishali district and 25 villages of Maner block in Patna district.

D.S. Mishra, an official in the department, said the government would provide safe drinking water from the Ganga to villages affected by arsenic.

“First, the surface water (in the river) will be treated to remove harmful substances and then it will be supplied,” Mishra said. He said the treatment of groundwater containing arsenic was costly and not sustainable.

The state government admitted early this year that high levels of arsenic have been found in the groundwater of 15 Bihar districts on either side of the Ganga river, posing the threat of cancer, an official said.

“A total of 57 blocks on both sides of the Ganga are affected by high levels of arsenic in the groundwater,” he said.

Arsenic causes cancer of the intestines, liver, kidneys and bladder as well as gangrene. People in several villages are suffering from bone deformation and a variety of skin problems.

“In some affected villages, people have complained of weakening and bending of the bones and dreadful rashes and lumps on the skin,” a health expert said.

Arsenic, an odourless and tasteless semi-metal element, occurs naturally in the environment and sometimes as a by-product of agriculture and industry.

An official said the worst affected districts are Bhojpur, Buxar, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Khagaria, Katihar, Chapra, Munger and Darbhanga and Patna.link

Among these, Harail Chapar, a village in Samastipur district, recorded the highest levels of arsenic - 2,100 parts per billion (ppb) - in groundwater, the official added. The World Health Organisation guideline for a safe limit is 10 ppb, while the Indian government’s guideline is 50 ppb.

The official said a survey conducted in the arsenic affected districts reveals that the deeper aquifers lying below 80 metres were free of arsenic.

Last year, a state government report based on a survey of water samples collected at random from 19,961 tubewells in 398 villages found that arsenic concentration was above 10 ppb in 310 villages and above 50 ppb in 235 villages.