A mud hut in Hazaribagh displays kohbar painting. Telegraph picture

After Amadubi in East Singhbhum, the state tourism department is planning to develop scenic and serene Bhelwara in Hazaribagh’s Vishunpur block as the next heritage village.

The department is working on a war footing to complete building six deluxe cottages and two luxury ones by this month-end. The total cost of the project is Rs 40 lakh and construction started six months ago.

Once the resorts are ready, the department will hand them over to Hazaribagh-based Virasat Trust, which promotes tribal art forms. The trust, in turn, will engage 20 female artists, experts in kohbar (marriage art) and sohrai (harvest art), to do up the walls of the cottages with paintings.

Trust secretary Justin Imam said this type of art forms needed to be revived and they were planning to exhibit paintings related to this traditional art form inside the cottages. “The paintings will depict forest life and tribal lifestyle. We are grateful to the state tourism department for giving us an opportunity to decorate the cottages,” Imam added.

Kohbar and sohrai, which have its roots in the prehistoric rock art of Jharkhand, have earned appreciation across the globe. Parvati Devi, Sajhwa Devi, Malo Devi, Rudhan Devi, Sugya Devi, Jasodha Devi, Gangwa Devi and 13 others, who have travelled to places like Australia, the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UK to popularise their art, will take charge of beautifying the eight resorts.

“The idea is to promote heritage tourism. The art village will also boast all facilities, that a tourist looks forward to,” said director of state tourism department Sidharth Tripathy.

This will be second project initiated by the state tourism department to promote heritage tourism. The Amadubi makeover, which was the first project to boost rural tourism in the hinterland, had received immense response from tourists, who were enamoured with tribal lifestyle and food.