A forest guard with an infant pygmy hog abandoned by its mother at Manas National Park. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Oct. 31: Shedding its troubled past, Manas National Park is set to become the centrepiece of a trans-border tourism circuit spreading across the Indo-Bhutan border.

India and Bhutan have already begun working out the modalities for the tourism venture. Assam?s chief wildlife warden M.C. Malakar said Delhi would soon sign an agreement with the Bhutanese government to enable tourists visiting Manas to venture into nearby tourist spots in Bhutan like Nanglam, Gelekphu and Samdrup Jhonkar.

Manas straddles the Bodoland Territorial Council-administered Baska and Chirang districts and stretches past the Indo-Bhutan border, where it is known as the Royal Manas National Park. The wildlife sanctuary was on the list of World Heritage Sites from 1985 to 1992, when the ravages of a militant invasion forced Unesco to alter its status to World Heritage Site in Danger.

With a semblance of normality finally returning to the Bodo heartland, officials are hopeful of Manas regaining pride of place on the tourism map. The revival journey will formally begin with a gala three-day centennial programme from December 12.

The World Heritage Committee of Unesco has asked Assam to collaborate with the Bhutanese government for the contiguous Royal Manas National Park to be included in the World Heritage Site list as a ?trans-boundary property?.

Malakar said the proposed joint tourism circuit had the potential to lure visitors to the area in droves. ?There has been a realisation on either side of the border that a joint effort is required to restore the park?s lost glory.?

A large Bhutanese contingent is expected for the centenary celebrations. Khampa Borgoiary, executive member in charge of forests and tourism in the Bodoland Territorial Council, said Bhutanese monarch Jigme Singye Wangchuk and senior Bhutanese officials had been invited, too.