Ford plans `religious tourism project' in Bengal — Vedic planetarium

[Guest guest]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/02/21/stories/2004022102360300.htm

 

 

 

Kolkata , Feb. 20

 

MR Alfred Brush Ford, great grandson of Henry Ford and Senior Trustee of

Ford Motor Company Fund, today said a "religious tourism project" would be

set up at Mayapur in Nadia district, 140 km from Kolkata.

 

Mayapur houses the world-famous ISKCON (International Society for Krishna

Consciousness) temple and attracts lakhs of religious tourists every year.

 

Although Mr Ford refrained from indicating the likely investment in the

proposed tourism project, sources associated with ISKCON said it might be

around Rs 600 crore. The funding pattern of the project is yet to be firmed

up.

 

Completion of the project would lead to several things, including spin-off

benefits for the local economy, improvement in healthcare and education

facilities, availability of micro credit to the people, etc. The idea is to

ensure that tourist arrivals in Mayapur goes up by "1,000 per cent by 2020".

 

Mr Ford, who was accompanied by his Indian born wife, Ms Sharmila Ford,

presented the highlights of the proposed project during an interactive

session with members of the Confederation of India Industry (Eastern Region)

here this evening.

 

Earlier today, he met the West Bengal Finance Minister, Dr Asim Dasgupta,

and expressed a desire to develop Mayapur as a preferred destination of

religious tourists. Stating that 80 per cent of the domestic tourism in

India was religious tourism, Mr Ford said two-third of this traffic was

concentrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. With proper

infrastructure in place, Mayapur could figure among the top-20 tourist

destinations in India.

 

A "vedic planetarium" would be built at Mayapur as part of the tourism

project. It would also have a Mayapur Centre of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The

Ganges would be used as a thoroughfare for ferrying tourists from Sundarbans

to Mayapur via Dakshineswar (a place en route which houses the famous Kali

temple built by Rani Rashmoni in 18th century Bengal.)

 

Mr Ford said Mr Pada Sevam, a fellow member of the ISKCON fraternity and an

alumni of the Prince Charles School of Architecture, UK, would design the

vedic planetarium. He hoped work on the project would begin by 2005,

subject, however, to the availability of the required infrastructural

support at Mayapur.

 

West Bengal, he pointed out, had great potential to emerge as a preferred

tourist destination. However, many opportunities are "lost" owing to lack of

appropriate infrastructure.

 

"West Bengal offers a lot of opportunities for business. The State

Government is very business-friendly. However, West Bengal is not telling

its story very well to the rest of the world. It needs to market itself

better," Mr Ford said and added that he would speak about the potential here

to IT companies in the US.