Gaya, April 18: Plan to organise Buddha Mahotsava and Buddha Poornima together has been dropped.

Only Buddha Poornima will be organised this year at Bodhgaya in May to commemorate the 2,600th year of Lord Buddha’s enlightenment.

Sources said the joint celebration plan was cancelled because of the scorching heat condition in Gaya in May.

The mercury has already crossed 41°C in the district and the temperature is set to soar in May, making it extremely difficult for people to attend the function. The inflow of foreign tourists at Bodhgaya also comes down in peak summer months. Baisakh Poornima (according to the Hindi calendar) is celebrated as Buddha Poornima every year at Bodhgaya by Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) and monasteries of other Buddhist countries.

Buddha Mahotsava was started in 1998 by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to promote tourism and draw foreign tourists to the Buddhist circuit, including Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Pawapuri, Varanasi, Sarnath and other places.

Till 2005, Buddha Mahotsava was organised either in December or January. Later in 2006, the tourism department fixed January 15, 16 and 17 for the Mahotsava programme every year at Bodhgaya.

At a meeting chaired by state tourism minister Sunil Kumar on January 4, 2011, it was decided that the Buddha Mahotsava would be organised along with the Buddha Poornima on May 17.

To ensure maximum tourists from Buddhist countries, a film and a website, providing information about Buddha Mahotsava and Buddha’s ideologies of Buddha were also planned. Bihar state tourism department principal secretary Deepak Kumar confirmed over the telephone that the Buddha Mahotsava celebrations have been dropped this year. He added the state tourism director has gone to Delhi to discuss plans for Buddha Poornima celebrations.

BTMC member secretary Nangzey Dorjee said meetings would be held with representatives of Buddhist monasteries of different countries ahead of Buddha Poornima.