Incident:
A British Couple was on adventure tourism on an inflatable boat throughout River Ganga from Haridwar to Kolkata. The couple reached at Pandarak near Mokama where they started capturing scenes in their camera in & around 10 Pm. When they saw some men roaming around the couple, they were unaware of their movement. These miscreants, in the first instance asked the couple to have a picture together. When the couple smelled something fishy they offered no response to these goons. These men started molesting the couple, asking money & when they refused to pay anything these goons misbehaved & moved towards the woman. The British Couple jumped into River Ganga & landed to a nearby village Pandarak where the couple narrated the whole incident to the villagers. Though they hardly able to convince the villagers because of language barrier. But villagers reached at a common conclusion that there had something happened wrong with them. They brought them to the police station where FIR was lodged against some unidentified men for molesting & misbehaving with the British Couple. Later the police arrested two men.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/news/TOP-british-couple-molested-5739081-PHO.html
Questions:
Now the first question rises, “is Bihar a friendly State for Tourism?”
Second question is whether the local administration was well informed about the British Couple’s passage of adventure tour on an inflatable boat in River Ganga?
Third Question is whether the British Embassy had informed the Government of India that one British Couple would go for such adventure tourism through River Ganga on an inflatable boat?
Did ever the Government of India deny for such tour on the ground that it won’t be feasible from the safety & security point of view?
What measures are being taken to develop Bihar a friendly State for tourism to compete with North-East, Deccan States, and Maharashtra & Uttar Pradesh etc.?
Tourism potential in Bihar:
Bihar has an immense potential of tourism . Bihar has an abundant unexplored & latent opportunity for cultural & ecological tourism. We have a glorious history which could be toured to watch monuments of the Great Magadh Empire sculptures in Kumhrar, Patliputra & nearby Vaishali. We have the great Buddhist monastery in Bodh Gaya & Rajgir. The State witnessed the expansion of Jain Communities in Ancient India which could be seen in Pawapuri & Rajgir. We had been the first global centres of education & advanced research which can be toured to witness in the relics of Nalanda & Vikramshila University. We can witness the medieval India visiting the great Shershah’s tomb in Sasaram. Sikh 10th Guru Govind Singh ji Maharaj was born in Patna Shaheb & one can visit to observe the rich monumental heritage of Takth Harmandir Shaheb.
The State has a vast ecological diversity with extraordinary distinction of landscape. Bihar has one the greatest landscapes for river tourism. The State has rich riparian ecology comprising River Ganga, Son, Kosi, Budhi Gandak, Kamla Balan, Gandak etc. The State comprises Valmiki Tiger Reserves, Jamui Protected Areas Forest Reserve having the glory of Bheembandh, Kakolat water-fall in Nawada etc. Bihar comprises some large & significant wetlands; viz Kanwar in Begusarai, Kusheshwar Sthan in Darbhanga, Gogabeel in Katihar & Baraila Taal in Vaishali etc.
Challenges:
There has been prevailing a severe degree of administrative reluctance & civic non-sense as far as tourism is concerned. Government lacks etiquette towards developing a structure of tourism industry. Policy makers have been failing to understand potential revenue generation that could involve people to create abundant employment opportunity in the State. The State till now couldn’t able to research existing friendly tourism environment in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Rajasthan etc. One of the major challenges before the State Tourism Department is to strengthen the police Administration & make them friendly to civilian & tourism. The State has been failing to Offer a safe & secure administration for tourism. Though over the period of times Bihar has developed in logistics & communication but there is prevailing administrative & civic nonsense which is affecting tourism industry badly.
http://www.bihartourism.gov.in/policy.html
Picture Credit: Daily Bhaskar