Bhojpur, July 24 Bhojpur’s Sadananda Municipality has started the initiative to promote historical, religious and cultural heritage sites within its territory. According to Mayor Birbal Rai, under the initiative, ponds and rest houses and temples built in the municipality by Sadananda Adhikari, a revered personality who had remained a bachelor all his life and devoted himself to the cause of education, will be protected. “We hope this campaign will help us promote our heritages and culture and keep them safe for posterity,” he said. Ramchandra temple built by Adhikari in Dingla is one of the major religious sites in the municipality, which draws thousands of devotees from different places throughout the year. While work is now under way at the temple to pave its premises with cobblestones with a fund of four million rupees from the provincial government, the municipality is constructing a concrete path around the outer edge of the temple at a cost of 800,000 rupees. “Similarly, the municipality has constructed stone steps leading to another famous religious site — Kailash Mandir. It has also started work to renovate the old resting houses,” said Deputy-mayor Merika Rai. “We’ve already started our work at some places, while at others, we are about to start work. The historic ponds such as Sita Kunda, Hanuman Kunda and others will be restored, as the municipality has made plans for the same,” said Chief Administrative Officer Bishnu Prasad Koirala. The municipality has also started searching for land, which was registered in the name of a guthi set up by Sadananda, to run a Sanskrit school. At some places, the municipality has already identified such lands and started dismantling structures that were built by encroaching the land. Besides protecting the ancient heritages, the municipality is also planning to develop a few parks, including a children’s park, and install statutes, all with a view to develop the municipality as a tourism destination. Meanwhile, the municipality’s initiative to protect the religious and historical built over a hundred years ago has made the locals happy.