Airport, AIIMS set to make Deoghar a thriving city

Ranchi: Sunita Devi (65) sells bangles by the side of a narrow lane leading to Baidyanath Dham temple. She earns approximately Rs 3,000 a month. Her son Budhiya sells pickles on the same road a 100 yards away. Together, the duo earns around Rs 7,000 a month, which is enough to sustain their family of five.

Sunita and Ramesh eagerly wait for Shravan every year.

With lakhs of devotees coming to the town from various parts of India, their sales rise. “If the business is good during Shravan, we take home anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 during the month.”

The mother-son duo is not alone. Thousands of small-time traders in Deoghar make a chunk of their annual income during Shravan. Be it hotels, eateries, store owners, transporters and daily wagers — the economy of the town revolves around Baidyanath Dham temple and the lakhs of devotees who converge during Shravan.

The Baidyanath Dham temple trust’s coffers have swollen in recent years. As per the Deoghar district administration, the temple earned Rs 14.16 crore in 2018-19, significantly higher than the Rs 8.74 crore the previous fiscal.

Banks, both private and public sector, estimated that 35 lakh kanwariyas who visited the town in 2018 spent close to Rs 400 crore on food, lodging, transport and purchasing puja paraphernalia. “This money was the mainstay of this town’s income,” a PSU banker posted at Deoghar said.

However, the district administration and trade and commerce bodies in Deoghar feel the winds are changing for good. With the regional centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS ) scheduled to begin its academic session from August, locals are now looking for new ways of income.

Ashish Kanjilal, a grocery store owner near Tower Chowk, is planning to open an eatery outside Panchayat Training Institute (PTI), which will serve as the makeshift campus of AIIMS till the hospital’s proposed 237acre campus at Devipur becomes functional by 2021. “With the hospital becoming operational, patients from across eastern India will come here. There will not be any dearth of customers,” Kanjilal said.

Premier hotel chains are also hunting for land around the AIIMS’ proposed campus. “We have received proposals from hotel chains like JW Marriot and Radisson Blu,” a senior official of Jharkhand Industrial Area Development Authority said.

Ranchi deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha also remains hopeful. “We are expecting that the Deoghar International Airport will become operational by 2020. That apart, we have one plastic park, food park and a software technology park coming up. These will contribute to the area’s economy,” Sinha added.