Patna, Sept. 17: Lalu Prasad may be the railway minister to the India, but his Bihar roots force him to pay more than lip service to put Bihar back on tracks.

In what observers describe as Lalu’s bid to revive his spell over Bihar’s people, Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Development Corporation (IRCTDC), a subsidiary of Indian Railways, would make a foray into what is more a Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation domain — Patna streets.

The rail board is all set to start a tourism package that is both cheap and has all the potential to allure people.

While talking about the package, general manager (east) of IRTDC T.C. Nagley said the Rs 399-package would be for a daylong tour of different places of historical and religious importance in Patna. “In this tour, a 20-seater luxury air-conditioned bus would take tourists to Kumhrar, Harmandir Saheb, Patna Museum, Gol Ghar and Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park,” Nagley added. The ride would be followed by a boat ride on the Ganga and a sumptuous lunch.

To be called Pataliputra Darshan, the bus service is likely to start its service from October 2 — the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. Incidentally, Lalu Prasad recently also set up a Gandhi statue at Motihari railway station in East Champaran district of north Bihar.

Initially, the tour would be a weekly Sunday affair. Nagley, however, confirmed that the frequency would increase depending on the tourists’ response.

Present plans state that the service would start and terminate at the Biscomaun Bhavan near Gandhi Maidan. It is Lalu Prasad who will naturally flag off the maiden journey from the Patna junction railway station on October 2.

To make it more tourist-friendly, the rail board has also struck a deal with the newly-opened, super mall Vishal Mega Mart, “which has agreed to offer 10 per cent discount to the tourists who would avail this package”.

Lalu’s critics, however, are sceptic about the success of the venture. “He is known for taking such populist measures which seldom succeed,” said JD(U) general secretary Shivanand Tiwary adding: “He began an air-conditioned train to transport vegetables from Bihar to Delhi’s vegetable marts. That failed miserably.”

Enumerating Lalu’s “failures”, Tiwary added: “He began small trains to ferry children in the Sanjay Gandhi Biological park here promising that the railways would maintain it. The zoo train is now a saga of ill repair and mismanagement.”

Lalu, said Tiway, began charwaha schools and pahalwan schools in the state soon after he became the Bihar chief minister in 1990. “The schools do not exist on the grounds today,” he added.