Berhampur: The Orissa government
today declared as a tourist destination the Tibetan settlement
at Jiranga area in Gajapati district, where Buddhist spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama inaugurated south Asia's biggest
monastery.
"We have declared Jiranga along with Khasada, a nearby
village where a natural waterfall is located, as tourist
spots. The notification in this regard had been handed over to
the Dalai Lama," state tourism and culture minister Debi
Prasad Mishra told reporters here.
The Dalai Lama today consecrated the 70-foot-high and
five-storey Rigon Thupten Mindoling monastery, spread over
about 10 acres of land, in the presence of lamas who gathered
here from across the world.
The minister said the government would develop
infrastructure facilities like road connectivity from
Taptapani, another tourist destination about 50 km from here
in Ganjam district, to Jiranga for easy approach to the
Tibetan settlement. Taptapani is famous for its hot-spring.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 21:21