Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today laid the foundation stone for construction of an additional guest house of the Environment and Forest Department at Rajgir at an estimated cost of Rs 3.75 crore.
The new guest house would be two-storeyed and spread over an area of 33,049 sq ft.
Principal Secretary (Forest and Environment), Vivek Kumar Singh said the new guest house would cater to the growing number of tourists visiting the scenic forest area in Rajgir.
He said a zoo safari project with an estimated cost of Rs 54 crore was being constructed in Mrig Vihar under Rajgir forest region for which necessary permission has been obtained from the National Zoo Authority and Bihar Wildlife Board.
Rajgir would become only the second zoo after Patna to have safari, Singh said, adding, the scenic Mrig Vihar area spread over 65 acres at present was being expanded to 195 acres to have five safari parks - one each for lion, tiger, leopard, deer and aviary/butterfly, for which permission was being obtained from the central zoo authority.
Prashant Kishore, the famed electoral strategist who spearheaded the grand alliance's spectacular victory in Bihar Assembly polls and other senior officials accompanied the Chief Minister during his visit to Rajgir on the second day of his visit to his native Nalanda district.
