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Bagaha : Water Resources Department (WRD) Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh on June 17, 2018, said that the unused and abandoned land and buildings of the department under Gandak Head Works Circle, Valmikinagar, in West Champaran district, on Indo-Nepal border, will be transferred to Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR) to promote tourism in the region and development of Eco- Tourism. The buildings will be used accomodation of the tourists to facilitate them visit the picturesque places, he said.

“There can not be a better place to develop Eco-tourism facilities than this region,” the WRD minister said at Gandak Guest House, Valmikinagar. The WRD Minister visited the area on June 17 afternoon to review the implementation of various flood protection schemes by the department.

The Minister held a meeting with VTR officials and discussed development of Eco-tourism in the region. He told mediapersons that the WRD had acquired about 281 acres of forests land for  Gandak Barrage at Valmikinagar and construction of Eastern Gandak canals in the 1960’s. But, major portion of the land was lying unused now- a- days and allegedly being encroached by locals. The Minister said that minimum space will be used for construction of multi-storied buildings to accommodate Gandak project staff while the rest of the land will be handed over to the VTR.

Minister Singh had reached VTR after visiting Manguraha forests range of the VTR, where he  asked flood control engineers to protect historical Shofa Shiva Temple located in the forests and adjoining villages from hilly Pandayee river. CM Nitish kumar had also visited the place recently and had assured villagers of tharu dominated area to protect historical Shofa Temple from erosion by Pandayee river.

Singh was accompanied by Principal Secretary, WRD, Arun Kumar Singh,  Principal Secretary, Environment and Forest, Tripurari  Sharan, VTR Conservator cum Director A  Chandrashekhar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, D K Shukla, Engineer- in- Chief, WRD, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Chief Engineer Anjani Kumar Singh, besides Bagaha SP Arbind Kumar Gupta, and SDM, Bagaha, Ghanshyam Meena.

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