Chief minister Nitish Kumar at the public meeting in Tekari on Wednesday. Picture by Suman

Nitish Kumar came up with gifts for both tourists and tour operators in the pilgrim town on Wednesday.

Beginning his three-day Seva Yatra, the chief minister inaugurated the facility to get all-India tourist permit (AITP) for tour operators besides throwing open the Rs 2.87-crore Vishnu Vihar to tourists. The hotel, developed by the state tourism development corporation in Gaya, would be a boon to pilgrims during Pitrapaksh.

In the absence of an AITP facility in Gaya, tour operators, mostly from Bodhgaya, used to register luxury tourist buses in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Now, Bihar is expected to generate monthly revenue between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh. The tour operators will have to submit applications at the single window counter at district transport office. After getting the application verified by the motor vehicles inspector, the district transport officer will forward it to the state transport authority. The state authority will issue AITP within 10 days, said officials.

Nitish also directed the transport department officials to simplify the process of issuing learner’s driving licence and tax deposit procedure of vehicles. He said that when the photograph of the person seeking a learner’s licence is taken with a webcam, demanding two hard copies of passport-size photograph is useless. He directed the officials to add some banks for online tax deposit of vehicles.

Vishnu Vihar, which has 22 air-conditioned rooms, three dormitories, cafeteria, restaurant-cum-conference hall and five shops, was planned in 2006. Nitish only laid the foundation stone of the hotel in 2006. Tourism minister Sunil Kumar said spread over an area of 13,000sqft, the hotel would cater to the Bodhgaya tourists also. Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation has given the hotel on lease to a private firm for five years on an annual rent of Rs 18.99 lakh. Ashwini Singh, the leaseholder, said the tariff would be between Rs 2,500 and Rs 2,800 for single and double occupancy, respectively.