Patna: The decks have been cleared for Bihar's first tourist police station.

The empowered committee headed by chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh has already approved the state police headquarters' proposal to set up the first police station for the tourists visiting Mandar Hill in Banka, around 290km southeast of Patna.

The news comes days after a Scottish couple who were river rafting from Haridwar to Calcutta were looted and allegedly manhandled by criminals at Pandarak diara (riverine island) in Patna rural where they had pitched tent for the night on Sunday.

Additional director-general of police (headquarters) S.K. Singhal said the tourist police station proposal was submitted to the empowered committed by the state home department, which gave the go ahead on September 14 this year.

"The proposal will be sent for cabinet's approval," Singhal, the official spokesperson of the state police, said on Thursday.

He said the state police headquarters had already initiated steps to identity other tourist spots in the state where similar police stations would be set up to ensure safety and security to visitors from within the country and abroad. "The process is under way," he revealed.

Mandar Hills under Bounsi block in Banka district has its historical as well as mythological significance. According to the Skand Puran, the place features in the samudra manthan (churning of the sea) episode. Apart from this, a unique black stone image of Vishnu in his man-lion incarnation has been found at the hill. An inscription of Gupta king Adityasen has also been found at the hill. A large number of tourists visit the hill, especially on Kartik Purnima.

The site is also related to the salvation of 12th Jain Tirthankar Vasupoojya Swami. On the hill, a Hindu temple and a Jain temple exist side by side.

Tourism department sources said Bihar stands at eighth position as far as foreign tourist footfalls are concerned. Patna, Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Vaishali, Nalanda and Banka are major destinations.

Last year, over a million foreign tourists visited the state. In 2015, around 900,000 foreign tourists had visited Bihar.

"The number of foreign tourists in the state has been increasing consistently for the past five years and we want to increase it further," said a senior tourism department official.