Gaya, July 17: Bodhgaya, which Unesco listed as a World Heritage site in 2002, has not been able to cash in on the global honour.

Though the tourist inflow has increased manifold thanks to the Unesco tag, it has not helped the local tourism industry. Most well-off visitors fly off to Varanasi, Delhi and other places at the end of the day's visit; only the "economy class" tourists stay back. Bodhgaya has 45 hotels, but only one of them has the tag of five star while 15 have three-star rating.

"What will a tourist do once he is over with visiting the Mahabodhi Mahavihara?" asked Raimondo Butrini, Italian author and expert on Buddhism who is a regular visitor to Buddhist sites in India. "The place woefully lacks recreation and health centres, accommodation facilities, conveyance and overall culture and ambience to engage the travellers from diverse nationalities and ethos who gather here."

Bultrini, a scholar on the Dalai Lama and the Gelugpa school of Buddhism who has authored a path-breaking book, Dalai Lama and the Demon King, added: "Bodhgaya, the holiest of the Buddhist pilgrimages where Siddhartha attained enlightenment, deserved to be a World Heritage site and Unesco rightly recognised it 14 years ago is one of the 33 World Heritage sites in India and over 1,000 across the world. Some World Heritages sites are better maintained while others are languishing because of the lack of vision, resources and will of the respective governments to harness what the Unesco tag can offer.

"I belong to Italy which has the highest number of the World Heritage sites - 51 - followed by China with 48.

But in my assessment communist China, despite its hostility against Buddhist icon the Dalai Lama, is ahead of many other nations including India and Italy in maintaining its World Heritage sites."

Bodhgaya does not only attract pilgrims from Buddhist countries such as Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar. A huge number of people including Hollywood celebrities, sports and fashion icons from Europe and America also flock to the site when the Dalai Lama conducts Kalchakra puja every three to four years.

"The Unesco tag and the Dalai Lama's popularity can catapult Bodhgaya into the world's most sought-after tourist destination. Alas, neither the government nor the local people have the vision to harness its potential," Bultrini said.

Hoteliers have their own woes to narrate."Most of the hotels have taken loans from the banks and are battling for survival," said Sanjay Singh, general secretary, Bodhgaya hotel association. "The devotee and tourist rush is only during the season - October to February. The occupancy rate is quite low during the off season. The Dalai Lama's Kalchakra puja is a big occasion for the hotels to earn, but that happens once in three-four years."

Many tourists complain about the lack of ambience.

"Except Mahabodhi Mahavihara, there is hardly much to see in Bodhgaya," said a tour operator. "If you have a health issue you are stuck for there is only one public health centre - that too ill-equipped - at Bodhgaya. There is no recreation centre. The road connectivity from Bodhgaya to Nalanda, Bodhgaya to Vaishali, Bodhgaya to Sarnath and other tourist places are poor."

Whatever development has happened in the 14 years since the Unesco honour has been in the form of monasteries and temples developed by other Buddhist countries, which retain majority of the expenditure by the tourists. The state and central governments have failed to develop amenities such as good roads, drainage system, battery-operated vehicles.

Confusion prevails among the local people on the demarcation of no construction zone and other development issues. Local people also say they are not involved in the development affairs even though economic uplift of the local populace is one of the mandates of the World Heritage tag.

The Telegraph provides a low-down on how Bodhgaya has fared in the 14 years it has worn the coveted World Heritage tag:

Pending plans

The site management plan for Mahabodhi Mahavihara and Bodhgaya town is still pending with the state government for approval. In 2012, Unesco rejected the proposed master plan for Bodhgaya and asked for a fresh site management plan, said Buddhist scholar Rajiv Kumar.

A Mumbai company prepared the plan, following which the Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee submitted it for approval to the state government on April 9, 2015. After the state government approves the plan, it will be sent to Unesco for final approval and subsequent implementation.

The entire Mahavihara premises have been described as the core zone in the plan with a 100metre buffer zone, said Rajiv. No construction can be allowed in the buffer zone. Another 100metre area, from the bank of the Niranjana river towards the east side of the Mahavihara, has also been earmarked as a no-construction zone.

Locals left out

Bodhgaya citizens' forum president Suresh Singh said Unesco wants to promote tourism by involving the local populace. However, after the serial bomb blasts in Bodhgaya on July 7, 2014, local businessmen were displaced; the shops in the Mahabodhi shopping complex north of the Mahavihara were razed for security. The displaced shopkeepers were shifted to a Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) facility with two nodes. Not a single shop has opened at Node I while only a few shops are open at Node II. Reason, the BSTDC facility is more than a kilometre from the Mahavihara and few tourists go.

The formation of the 20-member Bodhgaya World Heritage Buffer Zone Management Authority is a glaring example of neglect of local public representatives, said Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat chairperson Priti Singh. It includes only officials such as Magadh division commissioner, district magistrate, BTMC secretary and Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat executive officer. These officials are not locals, they are posted for a certain period and cannot understand the problems of the local people, Singh said.

Foreign hurdles

Local people allege that the increased tourist inflow has not helped them as small monasteries of Buddhist countries have flourished. Representatives of these monasteries remain in direct contact with the groups of devotees visiting Bodhgaya and provide accommodation and other facilities including food. It affects the business of local hotels.

Security loopholes

Cellphone jammer and baggage scanners are yet to be installed on the Mahavihara premises. Heavy vehicles also ply on the road towards the west and northwest of the Mahavihara. Plans to open a road from the passage of Sechen monastery - so that heavy vehicles can avoid the area around the Mahavihara - are yet to be implemented.