Jharkhand moots amendment of 2019 Parasnath tourism notification amidst protests

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Amidst eruption of sporadic protests by the Jain community in Jharkhand, the state government is considering a proposal to amend the notification of 2019 that had earmarked Parasnath Hills as a religious tourism centre, government officials said.

The then state government had notified Parasnath Hills as a religious tourism centre in 2019. In the same year, the Centre had also notified the hills as an eco-sensitive zone and allowed eco-tourism.

Parasnath Hills in Giridih district is also a notified wildlife sanctuary. It draws its religious significance from the fact that Shri Sammet Shikhar ji site is situated here. It is believed that 20 out of the 24 Tirthankars (saviors and spiritual teachers) attained salvation in ShriSammet Shikhar ji.

In line with the 2019 policy, the Jharkhand government decided to promote religious tourism at Parasnath Hills and launched Tourism Policy in July this year. This move has been opposed by the Jain community demanding reconsideration of the decision to develop Shri Sammet Shikhar ji into a tourist centre.

“We have received few representations from the community members, who have raised some apprehensions. We are looking into the technical details of the notification. We have mooted a few suggestions to the community members to make some amendments to the notification. We are also studying how other states like Uttarakhand run their religious centres. We will come up with a workable proposal which takes care of the community concerns without compromising on enforcement issues,” said tourism secretary Manoj Kumar.

This has prompted the state government to amend the notification of 2019 in sync with the sentiments of the community as well as for effective enforcement of the area.

The tourism secretary further said he has issued fresh directions to the Giridih district administration to implement a 2018 order, to keep the place sacrosanct as per the tenets of Jainism, in letter and spirit.

“Though the place was notified as a religious tourism centre in 2019, nothing has been done on the ground. Anyway, not much can be done in terms of infrastructure development as the area is a notified sanctuary and an eco-sensitive zone. But withdrawing the notification altogether would be difficult or else certain enforcement issues would get affected. The existence of the authority depends on the tourist centre notification. If it is completely withdrawn, even the basic demands of the community for limited development would become difficult to honour,” Hindustan Times quoted an official as saying.

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