Ranchi: After over a year-long hiatus, state tourism department is finally gearing up to roll out tourist buses for Deori and Rajrappa temples, two popular religious spots in and around the capital.
Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) general manager Rajiv Ranjan said the bus services to the revered Chhinnamastika temple in Rajrappa, Ramgarh, would start from on June 23, while people can avail the bus service to Deori in Tamar from June 26.
"Every Saturday and Sunday, the bus to Rajrappa will leave at 8am from JTDC office on Main Road and return back to the same spot around 5pm. We will take tourists first to the Rajrappa temple, from where they will be taken to the picturesque Patratu Dam," said Ranjan, adding the buses to Deori would leave on Tuesdays and tourists would also be able to visit Dassam Falls and Surya Mandir.
The JTDC general manager further said the bus services would be available at pocket-friendly rates. "We will charge Rs 350 from each person and the services will be free for toddlers up to 5 years of age. We will also offer free water and fruit juice bottles to all tourists," he added.
Throwing light on food arrangements, Ranjan said, "We have our restaurant in Rajrappa where tourists can get good food and in Deori we plan to tie up with a dhaba," he said.
When asked whether monsoon would be the ideal time to reintroduce the tourist bus services, Ranjan said rain never stopped people from visiting famous tourist spots.
"We did a proper study and found out that even during monsoon Rajrappa temple receives heavy footfall on weekends. Similarly, Deori temple is more crowded on Tuesdays as compared to other days. So, we designed our package accordingly," he added.
In 2016, JTDC had rolled out bus services to Deori, Dassam and adjoining areas. Eventually due to poor response and other logistic reasons the services were suspended.
Ranjan said this time they were introducing online booking facility at JTDC's official website jharkhandtourism.gov.in. "We will start the online booking option by tonight. People can also avail tickets from our office on Main Road. We hope to get a good response this time," he added.
