Patti Hoffman – the US Consul General in Kolkata made a trip to Bishnupur and wished the tourists from the American countries would make beeline to the ancient temple town of medieval age.
Mrs Hoffman visited the temples, a local artisans market called Pora Matir Haat (a market of charred clay artifacts), the handloom centres engaged in production of Baluchari saree and also bought a saree as a memento. She came to this town on invitation by one NGO that has been engaged to impart training to the craftsmen.
She said: “This is a nice place and I am amazed. I wish my colleagues and my friends in the USA would visit this place and experience the cultural ethnicity of this beautiful town.”
Bishnupur – the kingdom of the Mallya dynasty is surrounded by the terracotta temples and a pyramid shaped Rasamancha erected around 400 years ago and the elaborated carvings along the walls of the Jorh Bangla temple and the engraved scenes on the walls of the Madan Mohan temple and Shyamrai temple have got immense archeological and mythological values, which attract the tourists over the years.
The district administration in 2009-10 year had carved out a plan to woo the foreign tourists at Bishnupur and a plan to preserve the historical icons of the town was conceived, besides setting up modern lodging and improved transport facilities.
In recent years, the district administration stressed to augment the tourism infrastructure and made arrangements to showcase the traditional artifacts, Baluchari saree, pottery and cultural ethnicity of the historical town also the conventional. The SDM, Bishnupur, Mr Manas Mondal also introduced modern tents, hammock in open air tourist spots, besides banning vehicular traffic through the historic gates of the Mallya dynasty last year.
The secretary of the NGO that has been working in Bankura since 2007, Mr Somnath Pyne said: “She also visited one of our training centres and one solar energy plant here.”
He added: “We are ambitious that Bishnupur would see better tourist footfalls from the USA as the Consul General herself has hinted about Bishnupur’s positive tourism potential.”