Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation will start bus services from Patna for seven destinations

Patna: The Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation will start bus services from Patna for seven destinations of religious and historical importance.

Brajesh Kishore Singh, manager, travel and trade, told The Telegraph: “BSTDC has decided to link seven places of religious importance with the state capital. The new destinations include Varanasi, Calcutta, Gaya, Sitamarhi, Ranchi, Purnea and Rajgir.”

He said: “The bus service to these seven places on a public private partnership mode. All formalities will be completed by July 16.”

Once all the formalities get completed, the fares will be decided and online bookings will be opened, Brajesh said. The corporation will give preference to new buses not older than 2017 and will include Volvo and luxury buses, he added.

Managing director, BSTDC, Inayat Khan, said: “The motive behind starting these new buses is to link all places with the state capital having religious importance in the country. In the initial phase, we decided to link these seven places with Patna based on a survey. We found that many tourists coming to Patna from outside visit these places along with those residing in Patna. That’s why we have chosen these seven places in the first phase.”

“As and when demand for other places come, we will try to include those places too,” Khan said, adding: “We are surveying other routes too.”

Apart from this initiative, the transport department has decided to start new buses for Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal.

According to an official of the department, buses will run on 99 routes from Bihar to these three states.

“The routes include Patna to Howrah via Gaya, Rajgir to Calcutta, Patna to Siliguri and Saharsa to Siliguri,” he said.

Courtesy: The Telegraph