Gaya: The alleged tardy implementation of Hriday (Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana), the scheme specially designed to ensure integrated development of a dozen select cities, has irked Union tourism secretary Rashmi Verma.

Gaya is the only city of the state to have been included in the list of heritage cities that included Varanasi, Ajmer and Dwarka. Verma, accompanied by Union tourism department joint secretary Suman Billa and other officials, is on a two-day visit to the city to review the ongoing projects associated with tourism development.

On May 1, Verma visited Vishnupad temple and other sites selected under Hriday.

Under Hriday, development schemes worth Rs 34.69 crore are to beexecuted and the sites selected for the purpose include Vishnupad temple and Akshay Vat, two of the most important Vedis (altars) where pinddaan rituals for the salvation of ancestral souls are performed.

The final pinddaan rituals, according to Mahesh Lal Guput, a prominent Gayawal Panda are performed at Akshay Vat where the superior priest certifies the successful performance of the salvation ritual.

One of the projects undertaken under the scheme pertains to the renovation, cleaning and proper conservation of Vaitarni, the pond where a dip ensures freedom from the cycle of birth, believe devotees. Vaitarni, besides suffering encroachments also stands polluted on account of the inflow of neighbouring drains, said activist Lalji Prasad, a former member of the standing committee of the Gaya Municipal Corporation.

Explaining the tardy implementation of Hriday in Gaya, local officials are learnt to have attributed it to the reluctance of contractors to undertake the job. Sources said the tender for the job was floated four times but there were no takers.

After much difficulty, the municipal corporation, the executing agency, managed to get a contractor to do the job. The project is unlikely to meet the October 2018 deadline. Lack of cleanliness in the Vishnupad area was promptly noticed by the Union tourism secretary, said sources.

A pathway is also to be constructed on the western flank of the Falgu and the pathway would be broad enough to facilitate the movement of four-wheelers.

The Union tourism secretary also visited Bodhgaya. The official, while expressing satisfaction with the internal maintenance of the shrine, expressed unhappiness with the overall sanitary condition prevailing in the Bodhgaya township.