Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday pitched for the state's tourism sector, stating it could earn Bihar a lot of revenue.

In his aim to boost the sector, Manjhi appealed to the Centre to construct seven big and 25 small airstrips in Bihar. He was attending a programme in Munger district's Maheshpur village.

Reaching the venue around 3pm, he unveiled statues ofthree freedom fighters, Pandit Kamleshwari Prasad Singh, Sardar Nityanand Singh and Sachidanand Singh. They were from Maheshpur village, around 200km east of Patna.

Manjhi said: 'The Bihar government had pleaded before the Centre to make seven big and 25 small airstrips operational for the development of tourism in Bihar. I think that only one sector can earn a lot of revenue for the government and that is tourism. Bihar's people can sustain on this revenue for a year. The proposal (for the airstrips) before the Union government includes the names of Muzaffarpur, Motihari, Bhagalpur and Munger.'

The chief minister, who was at the programme for around an hour, said improved law and order situation was the reason for increase in the number of domestic and foreign visitors to Bihar. 'Tourism is a big sector and the state government is serious about its promotion to push economic development,' he added.

Stating that the tourist flow in Bihar has increased considerably in the past decade from mere thousands in 2005 to about 2 crore according to the latest figures, Manjhi attributed the improved law and order situation behind the jump in the figures.

'The government will ensure a peaceful law and order situation so that the upward trend of tourist-footfall continues in the future too,' he said.