Ranchi: Chief minister Raghubar Das on Monday inaugurated the three-day Jharkhand Mahotsav in Giridih, the first such cultural extravaganza in the district nearly 300km from here.

Promising to do his best for Jharkhand's economic growth by promoting tourism, including eco and religious tourism, Das repeated that all places of pilgrimage in the state would be developed on the lines of Tirupati temple to generate jobs for residents.

Praising Giridih's spiritual and cultural significance, Das alluded to the Shiv temple named Jharkhand Dham near Dhanwar, amid much applause from the audience that included Koderma MP Ravindra Kumar Rai, MLAs J.P. Verma, Kedar Hazra and Nagendra Mahto, tourism secretary Manish Ranjan and senior bureaucrats.

Das promised to renovate the Sanskrit College building on Jharkhand Dham premises and turn it to a centre of academic excellence.

On other initiatives for this district, he added that a milk chilling plant in Giridih was set to come up soon. He added that they were setting up skill development centres at every district to help youths learn trades and bag employment.

Implying his government was progressive, he said, "My government's decision to enable Jharkhand women get land and homes (property) in their name for a token Re 1 has helped over 53,000 women already. These women property owners are now expected not to discriminate between their sons and daughters, especially in education. They should not marry off their daughters early."

Not naming names but taking a dig at rivals, Das asked the intelligentsia to "come and chase away brokers".