Now, Fly to Babdham

July 29, 2013: Jharkhand might get the fortune of providing aerial connectivity to Parasnath and Maluti temples at Giridih and Dumka districts as CM Hemant Soren is interested to present the cultural-cum-religious relevance of the State to the entire nation. CM also promised to support this programme.

Creating Jharkhand’s historical date to begin inbound tourism through air with the successful launch of Babadham Hawai Darshan (Babadham Air Tour) on Sunday, CM Hemant said, “The State can rejuvenate in the tourism perspective by developing the tourist spots with better transportation facilities especially in the holy places of various communities visited by lakh of people every year.”

“The initiative of State Civil Aviation, Tourism and Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce (FJCCI) people for this one month air tour from Ranchi and Jamshedpur separately for Deoghar will prove a milestone,” added Soren. Cherishing CM Soren’s words, FJCCI President Ranjeet Kumar Tibrewal said, “We have requested the Government to identify 400 hectares land wherein a park-cum-museum can be constructed reflecting the State’s culture thereby boosting tourism and we are ready to provide all sorts of help on our part for this purpose.”

Apart from the Ranchi-Deoghar flight service exclusively for this saawan season, State tourism department is receiving a good response from the Aakash Vandana programme giving scope to Lord Shiva devotees at Baidyanath Dham to take two Parikrama (circles) of the temple in a helicopter for 12 to 15 minutes. As of now the nine-seater helicopter for this Baba Dham Darshan will take the booked Kawariyas from Ranchi till July 31 and from Jamshedpur from August 4.

The first take off comprised four women and five men. 52 year old SK Mishra, the oldest among these pilgrims, who has earlier visited Baba Dham seven times by walking on feet from Sultanganj to Deoghar said, “I am lucky to worship Baba Dham for the eighth time that too being among the first passengers of Baba Dham tour flight. The convenient facility for this religious purpose will definitely prove fruitful for devotees like us.” AK Tiwari and Bina Tiwari, a local devotee couple in the flight also supported Mishra’s views.

This special flight was supposed to begin from July 22 after the inauguration by then Advisor to Governor K Vijay Kumar on June 6 was postponed due to few people showing enthusiasm in booking the tickets has now grabbed desire  of local as well as people from other States. Tibrewal said, “With the increasing demand we will surely not face any ‘monetary loss’ and hope that both civil aviation and tourism department would not require our assistance from next year for this plan.” “Marketing for this first ever pilgrimage via flight in the state was not strong but we are not demoralised as a new project undergoes hassles in its initial stage,” informed State tourism-cum-civil aviation Principal Secretary Sajal Chakraborty.

Source: The Pioneer, DT. July 29, 2013.