Nitish invited Dalai Lama to visit Bihar

By Bijender Sharma
DHARMSHALA---The chief minister of Bihar state, Mr Nitish Kumar on Monday met with the Tibetan Spiritual Leader His Holiness the Dalai at his Palace in Mcleodganj near Dharmshala where Bihar Chief Minister formally invited the Dalai Lama to visit Patliputra and inaugurate the Bhagwan Buddh Smriti Udyan which is expected to be ready by April-May this year.
The huge park with meditation hall is being built close to the railway station in Bihar’s capital at a cost of Rs 125 crore. It is coming up to mark the 2550th year of Mahaparinirvana of Bhagwan Buddh. Spread over an area of 20.65 acres with developable area of 290,000 square feet, the project is expected to be completed by November 15 next year.Delhi based realtor Parsvnath Developers has been assigned the job to build the Buddha Smriti Udhyaan in Patna at the cost of Rs 125 Crore ($30 million) .The company received a letter of acceptance (LoA), earlier this year, from BSUDC to develop the project that comprises landscaped areas, a stupa, meditation halls, museum and public amenities.
The project, a facsimile of Delhi’s Akshardhaam temple, will be designed by Lall and Associates. The state-of-the-art project will enhance the beauty of Patna and is poised to attract tourists from across the world.

Earlier, Minister of Council of Tibetan government in Exile headed by Prime minister Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, hosted a dinner reception in honour of the visiting chief minister .
Nitish during his meeting with the Dalai Lama has reportedly asked the Dalai lama to intervene for keeping the urn containing holy relics of Bhagwan Buddh in the park so that it could be put on display. The relics are preserved at Patliputra Museum for about 60 years after its discovery during excavations in Vaishali. The relic has become a political issue as locals want the relics to be kept in Vaishali from where it had been excavated.
Recently, when Nitish was camping in Vaishali during his Pravas Yatra, the matter was raised and the CM had assured that it would be kept in Vaishali provided it was properly preserved there.