RAMGARH: Chief minister Raghubar Das on Saturday laid the foundation of the first phase of the Rs 200-crore Patratu Lake Resort project near the Patratu dam in Ramgarh. Das said similar such resorts, called Jharkhand Resorts, will be set up at various tourist spots across the state."Jharkhand has immense potential to develop itself into a world-class tourism hub and strengthen the economy to eradicate poverty by 2022. The state government plans to hand over the world-class tourist centres to local villagers, who will run them by forming a trust comprising the residents and panchayat representatives," Das said.Spread over 120 acres, the Patratu Lake Resort is scheduled to be completed in three phases within the next 13 months. Das said, "The state has lakes, dams, waterfalls, pilgrimages, forests and lush hills. We have identified several spots to be developed into international tourist hubs."Das said the Jharkhand Resorts will offer world-class facilities to the visitors. He added, "The state is developing a tourist circuit connecting Bodh Gaya in Bihar and Itkhori in Chatra district to attract tourist from Buddhist countries. We will develop a religious tourism circuit between Rampur and Maluti in Pakur district and Deoghar and Bauskinath temple. The Rajrappa temple would be developed on the lines of Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu & Kashmir."Das along with minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha , water resources, drinking water and sanitation minister Chandra Prakash Chaudhary and tourism minister Amar Kumar Bauri went for boating in the Patratu dam.Sinha said along with tourism, Patratu will also become a centre of industries as the NTPC has proposed to invest Rs 20,000 crore to set up India's biggest power plant here.Bauri said the number of foreign tourists visiting Jharkhand has increased by 200% between 2013 and 2016.

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