The under-renovation Birsa Vihar Hotel in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, June 26: The state tourism department has started the renovation of its hotels in Ranchi, Dhanbad, Deoghar and Basukinath to attract more people. In the capital, Birsa Vihar hotel is being spruced up.

“The state tourism department had signed an MoU with India Tourism Development Corporation in 2004 for the renovation of Birsa Vihar hotel but it failed to take off. It took three long years to start the project after clearing major bottlenecks.

“The cost of the total project is estimated to be in crores,” said a top officer of the tourism department.

The remodelling work, which started in April this year, is expected to take another five to six months for completion. The hotel, which came into existence in 1990, so far had only 20 rooms. Now, seven more rooms have been added with facilities like television, geyser and air-conditioner.

“We are also providing phone facility and tiles suiting the colours and décor of the rooms. Another added feature is the provision of lift,” Alok Prasad, the general manager of Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC), told The Telegraph.

As part of the remodelling, doors and windows are also being changed. “We are changing the entire décor right from the floor finishing to furniture so that tourists visiting the state return with fond memories. Though not much has changed in the lobby, the conference hall is being renovated,” he added.

Similar work is going on in other hotels of JTDC. The Yatri Nivas in Deoghar and Parasnath are also being renovated under the scheme.

But security still remains the prime concern for visitors. “Problems are coming up at major tourist spots like Betla and Netarhat due to poor law and order situation. Security of the tourists should be of prime concern. Besides roads and electricity problems need to be looked into,” said a tourism department officer.

Meanwhile, director of tourism Deepak Singh said efforts are being made to make the tourism website informative so that a large number of people can have access to it.