Rampurhat/Kolkata: Bengal govt will build a large tourist lodge at Rampurhat to provide affordable accommodation to middle class and lower middle class pilgrims, CM Suvendu Adhikari announced on Saturday ahead of the Sept 10-11 Kaushiki Amavasya festival.“I have asked the DM to build a large tourist lodge here to provide affordable accommodation for Tarapith pilgrims. The DM will prepare the plan,” Adhikari said after chairing an administrative meeting at Rampurhat.The CM called for adequate arrangements to accommodate the large number of devotees expected to visit Tarapith during Kaushiki Amavasya festival.Adhikari announced an additional allocation of Rs 5 crore to make Tarapith more vibrant during Kaushiki Amavasya. He said there would be no shortage of funds for celebrations and that flowers would be showered from helicopters during the festival.Referring to the recent fire at a hotel in Tarapith, the CM expressed concern over the practice of locking hotel guests inside from outside. “I was surprised to hear that hotels are locked from outside so that boarders cannot leave in the morning. This is like turning the hotel into a tinderbox. This bad practice must be changed immediately,” he said.With most panchayats currently inactive, Adhikari said BDOs had been asked to shoulder additional responsibilities. He also set an Oct 10 as deadline for repairing roads under all panchayats, municipalities and PWD across Birbhum.Adhikari said assistance camps will be established every five km to facilitate the movement of pilgrims. The camps will have police booths, temporary healthcare facilities, ORS and drinking water, besides arrangements for baul (a type of Bengali folk song) performances.Highlighting Birbhum’s cultural and spiritual heritage, the CM said: “Birbhum means the Birbhum of Maa Tara, the Birbhum of bauls and the Birbhum of Rabindranath Tagore.” Adhikari added that he would soon visit Birchandrapur, regarded as the birthplace of Nityananda Prabhu, at the invitation of the Vaishnav community.
