Bhagalpur, Nov. 12: The state government has decided to celebrate Vikramshila Mahotsav on February 25-26 every year.
It has included the programme in the list of government-sponsored events.
The sub divisional office (SDO) at Kahalgaon has been asked to prepare the budget for the Mahotsav to be held on the half-excavated site of Vikramshila, the ancient site of learning built by king Dharma Pala of the Pala dynasty between 750 and 800AD.
Till 2013, the government used to intermittently organise the Mahotsav on the Vikramshila premises and the tourism department used to provide Rs 25 lakh.
"Since prices of everything have gone up, so preparing fresh budget is required this time," said a source at the SDO. Bhagalpur district magistrate Adesh Titarmare, in a letter to the director of the tourism department, had requested the Mahotsav be organised regularly. Umashanker Prasad, director of the tourism department, had finalised February 25-26 as the dates of the Mahotsav every year while including it in the government event calendar.
The government move came on the heels of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the half-excavated ruins of Vikramshila on November 26-27 being finalised.
The President will visit Deoghar and travel to Vikramshila and Guru Dham in Bounsi in Banka on the request of Nishi Kant Dubey, BJP MP from Godda and also a native of Bhawanipur village near Vikramshila.
Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh will conduct a high-level meeting with senior officials concerned of the Bhagalpur division on November 14 to oversee preparations of the President's visit. Dubey has also been invited for the meeting at Patna.
Top officials have started visiting Vikramshila regularly ahead of the President's visit. On November 9, Bhagalpur divisional commissioner Ajay Kumar Choudhary accompanied by Titarmare and other officials visited excavated sites of Vikramshila, located 48km east of Bhagalpur in Antichak village under Kahalgaon sub-division.
The officials also visited NTPC, Kahalgaon where the President would stay on the night of November 26 at Mansarovar Guest House.
On November 8, a team of senior police officers under the leadership of Sushil M. Singh Khopde, inspector-general of police, Bhagalpur, visited the two places to take stock of security arrangements.
"The President would take the aerial route to reach both NTPC and Vikramshila so we are putting focus on the construction of helipads and security is being beefed up," Khopde pointed out.
Choudhary said all departments concerned have been asked to complete pending works before the President's visit. Nabratna Pathak, superintending archaeologist, Patna circle of Archeological Survey of India (ASI), and D.K. Sinha, deputy superintending archaeologist, arrived in Vikramshila on Thursday and supervised preparations.
The local administration at Kahalgaon also initiated anti-encroachment drives on NH-80 which passes through the Kahalgaon township.
Official took out awareness drives and warned occupants to remove their encroachments within 24 hours. The Press Club of Eastern Bihar, Bhagalpur, a body of mediapersons of eastern Bihar districts, will present a souvenir to the President during his visit to Vikramshila on November 27.
Rajiv Siddharth, the president of the club, said the souvenir will be exclusively on Vikramshila affairs.
English, Hindi and Bengali articles by eminent persons in the souvenir will depict the history of the ancient varsity and its present status, he said.
