Raghurajpur artisans rue decline in tourism

BHUBANESWAR: Tourist footfall in Raghurajpur has fallen in the last few years, claimed artisans of the heritage village. They blamed lack of infrastructure for the decline.The artisans said there is no proper approach road to Raghurajpur though it is covered under Rural Tourism scheme of the Centre. Only a handful tourists are visiting the artists village in a month as artisans of neighbouring Basudeipur are diverting them to their village, said Akash Swain, secretary Raghurajpur Village Committee.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, they said the narrow road to the village from Chandanpur police station has been encroached upon by local shopkeepers and at Janakadeipur, the level crossing has been closed while a tunnel built to approach Raghurajpur is a difficult passage for tourist buses. The artisans demanded opening of railway crossing at Janakdeipur passenger halt for tourists’ convenience.
Demanding eviction of encroachers from all the approach roads to the crafts village and adequate publicity by Tourism Department and Ministry, they said hoardings and a map of Raghurajpur should be put up on NH-316 at Samajpur traffic post and Tulasi Chaura traffic post.  

There are a total of 1050 artists in Raghurajpur, under Sadar block of Puri district, practising different crafts like Pattachitra, palm leaf engraving, Tassar painting, wood and stone carving, paper and cow dung toys and Ganjapa cards.