New Delhi | Jun 8, 2016: With an aim to boost tourism, Jharkhand government is planning to develop abandoned mines into active tourist spots and renovate medieval terracotta temples of Maluti.

On the lines of mining tourism practices adopted by countries like Australia and Canada, Jharkhand government intends to develop closed mines as a tourist destination. It also plans to transform several abandoned mines of the state as tourist sites.

The state government also has a plan to renovate, restore and develop the medieval terracotta temples of Maluti as a tourist hotspot.

"That could be a different experience for the visitors and tourists who visit Jharkhand. The government is already in talks with several mine operators for the same," said Prasad Krishna Waghmare, Director, Jharkhand Tourism.

Developing mining tourism in a big way is part of the state tourism departments larger plans to evolve improved tourism infrastructure and promote lesser known tourist sites into major visitor draws.

Waghmare said his department is working on different genres to boost tourism in the state including mining tourism, temple tourism as well as biodiversity tourism as part of a comprehensive tourism policy that has been drafted for the first time since the formation of state in 2000.

The state has already proposed development of new tourist destinations at Baba Naikdham, Mahrinath Dham, Godda, Lord Shiva Dham at Vasta hills, and Dombariburu and Ulihatu.

Also, the government is working for the renovation of Vishwakarma Temple, Hazaribagh, Deoghar Basukinath, Parasnath hill, Rajrappa Temple, Jagannathpur Temple, Sun Temple, Maluti and Bhairavsthan.

"A new addition to the list would be the temple tourism at Maluti, which has a treasure of ancient temples intricately decorated with terracotta to be developed and offered to tourists," said Waghmare.

Maluti temples are a group of 78 terracotta temples built between the 17th and 19th centuries in Maluti village of Dumka District.

The tourism department has also appointed special Paryatan mitras at major tourist destinations to better guide visitors.

In recent years, Jharkhand has attracted significant numbers of tourists. At the time of formation of Jharkhand, a total of 23,991 tourists visited the state.

In 2015 the total number of tourists visiting the state went up to 33,179,530 with 1,67,855 foreigners among them.

Jharkhand currently holds ninth rank in the country in terms of visitors.

(Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/)