Bihar's tourism push: Officials to go on compulsory holidays every 3 months

In a bid to promote tourism, the Samrat Choudhary-led Bihar government has issued a major directive, making it mandatory for government officials and employees to go on compulsory holidays across the state with their families.

Under the new order issued by B Rajendra, Additional Chief Secretary of the General Administration Department, all state government officials and employees posted in Bihar will have to travel once every three months to tourist, eco-tourism and rural tourism destinations in the state.

The visits will span two days and two nights and will generally be scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays.

As part of the directive, officials and employees have been instructed to visit at least three tourist sites during each trip and stay overnight in the area.

After completing the visit, they will be required to submit a report to the District Magistrate, which must include photos of the spots visited, details related to the destinations and their personal experiences during the tour.

The government has also clarified that the duration of the travel and stay will be treated as official duty.

The order further says that senior officials, including officers, senior deputy superintendents of police, regional chief conservators of forests, district superintendents of police, superintendents of police, divisional forest officers and other divisional and district-level officers, will also undertake similar visits to tourist destinations located outside their districts of posting.

During these tours, officials have been directed to cover as many as three nearby tourist destinations and stay overnight there.

The government has specifically instructed that no official should operate from their official residence during the visit period. It has also barred the conduct of review meetings or inspection-related official work during the trips.