350th Prakashotsava: All posh city Patna sold out

Patna: Accommodations in posh Patna hotels are either sold out or blocked in the first week of January next year when the city will host the 350th

Prakash Parva

to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.

The main Prakash Parva event is slated for January 5 although the celebrations are expected to start at least a week in advance.

Maurya Hotel started getting booking requests for the occasion almost six months ago. "All our 70 rooms are sold out from January 1 to 6," Maurya's front office manager Girish Sinha told TOI on Saturday, adding the guests include many Sikh devotees from foreign shores, mostly the UK.

According to Sinha, many from the USA and Canada have also made bookings for the period in his hotel where the tariff ranges from Rs 12,000 to Rs 32,000 per day.

There are no rooms in The Panache as well. "We have altogether 69 rooms for Rs 7,000 to 8,000 a day. The Bihar government has requested us to block 50-odd rooms," hotel's Sanjay Francis said, adding the deal with the government was likely to be finalised by Monday. Francis said group bookings had been made by Sikhs too. Individual booking orders have come from different parts of India. "The CEOs/MDs of at least three corporate giants, including a cough syrup major and a beverage firm, are also booked in our hotel," he said and added they were now saying 'no' to even VIPs.

According to Chankaya Hotel's general manager T K Sinha, 60 rooms in his hotel have been blocked by the prabandhak committee of Takhat Sri Harmandir Ji of

Patna Saheb

. Hotel Pataliputra Ashok, which is run by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation, also does not have any of its 46 rooms vacant for the Prakastosava period, said hotel's front desk executive Pradeep Kumar.

Meanwhile, the state tourism department has uploaded to its website a list of 133 hotels and lodges along with their contact details for the convenience of Sikh devotees. These hotels together have 6,730 rooms. Also on the website is a list of 60 community halls with a residential capacity of 9,346.

The Takhat Saheb Gurdwara has four guesthosues: Kedia Sadan (100 rooms),

Jogi Niwas

(40 rooms),

Miri Piri

(80 rooms) and Mata Gujri Niwas (24 rooms). "We have also four halls. The existing staff quarters will be demolished to make room for devotees," said former prabandhak committee member R S Jeet.

At a walking distance from the Patna Saheb gurdwara is situated Baal Leela Gurdwara, where there are 225 rooms, as decent as those in any posh hotel of the city.