Centre to spruce up Buddhist circuit with IFC backing

  But, the Centre with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) hopes to spruce up the Buddhist circuit.

The Ministry of Tourism has now taken up a project to address issues such as the lack of good roads and trains and wayside amenities plaguing the Buddhist circuit. The inspiration to approach the IFC — which is part of the World Bank group — was drawn from the agency’s support to the development of the Inca Trail in the Machu Picchu region of Peru.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed and hope the IFC would get on board to develop the Buddhist circuit with international amenities. Right now, these places do not even have a proper airport, except in Gaya, no proper trains connecting all of them and abysmal road conditions,” Tourism Ministry secretary Sujit Banerjee said here.

Places like Gaya, Sarnath and Sravasti in the Buddhist circuit are thronged by thousands of tourists from South-East Asian nations, Japan, China and the rest of the world every year. “But we have no good infrastructure to support them except the sites themselves,” said Banerjee.

IFC has already supported one tourism project in Rajasthan, and the ministry is hopeful that it would lend its financial support to the Buddhist circuit too.

While the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd, an arm of the Indian Railways, sometime back launched a train called Mahaparinirvan Express connecting all important places of Buddhist pilgrimages in India besides one in Nepal, the Tourism Ministry feels it is not adequate.

The tourism secretary said he had held discussions with his counterpart in the Railway Ministry. “In fact, our thrust has been a ‘convergence project’ with other government sectors so as to offer tourists a seamless experience while travelling in the country,” Banerjee said.

In this regard, the ministry’s ambitious project to develop a Hospitality Development Promotions Board is in an advanced stage, he said.