Dakua (left) gets a dekko of the monuments in Gour. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, April 25: The West Bengal tourism department has finally put its stamp on Gour, 22 km from here, declaring it a site worth a visit.

With the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) completing its excavation of Ruknuddin Barbak Shah?s palace that dates back to the 15th century, the state tourism department has stepped in to put the historical site on the tourist map of the country.

State tourism minister Dinesh Dakua, who was here today, said his department would take up a slew of projects worth Rs 5 crore to make Gour more attractive to visitors.

?Till now, no one had given a serious thought to developing tourism in Gour. It has, like many other places of interest in the state, remained neglected,? Dakua said this evening. The minister had visited the excavation site earlier in the day.

The ASI has in the past two years unearthed the remains of 19 monuments of the palace built by Ruknuddin Barbak Shah, a king of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty who ruled over a large part of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from 1459 to 1474. During the time, Gour was his capital.

There were several rulers down the line till the 16th century when first Sher Shah Suri and then Akbar defeated the kings of Gour and established their rule.

Keeping in mind the severe funds crunch that the state is going through, Dakua said money for Gour would come from the Union government?s Destination Development Tourism, a project launched recently.

?With the funds, we will create gardens and landscape the area around the monuments. Around Rs 40 lakh will be spent for this. I understand that the ASI will also want to carry out some restoration work,? the minister said.

Besides roads connecting the monuments, accommodation with all amenities for tourists and a car parking zone will also be constructed.

?We will also spend Rs 90 lakh to illuminate the ruins so that visitors can see them by night,? Dakua said. A zilla parishad guest house, located nearby, will also be done up with a part of the funds.

Dakua, who sat with district magistrate Abhijit Chowdhury, local MLA Samar Roy, representatives of the hotel owners? association and officials of the forest department and the ASI to chalk out a time-bound plan for the implementation of the project, said: ?The roads (to Gour) are bad and there is no security there. I have asked the district magistrate to provide police protection for the monuments.?

Earlier, ASI director (eastern zone) Bimal Chattopadhyay had alleged that pilferage of buried bricks goes on unchecked at Gour. This, he had said, was possible because of the absence of enough security personnel.