Jharkhand to develop defunct mines as tourist spots

New Delhi: Jharkhand's tourism department said on Thursday it is working to develop the closed and abandoned mines in the state into active tourist destinations.

"Mining tourism is to be developed following best practices from other parts of the world," said a statement from the department, citing Director (tourism) Prasad Krishna Waghmare.

"The state government intends to develop closed mines and transform the abandoned mines as a tourist destination."

The move comes after the department studied mining tourism in Australia, Chile, Canada, Norway and other countries.

"This could be a different experience for the visitors and tourists who visit the state. The government is already in talks with several mine operators for the same," Waghmare said. 

He said his department has also been working on temple tourism as well as biodiversity tourism as part of a new policy. 

There is going to be a development of the medieval terracotta temples of 'Maluti' as a tourist hotspot.

Maluti temples are a group of 78 terracotta temples built between the 17th and 19th centuries in the Maluti village of Jharkhand's Dumka district.

According to officials, Jharkhand has seen a rising graph of visitors from outside the state, from 23,991 tourists in the year 2000 when the state was formed to 33,179,530 (including 1,67,855 foreigners) in 2015. 

Jharkhand currently holds ninth rank in the country in terms of visitors, and the state government is committed to take the state to the top of the country's tourist table, Waghmare said.