Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph by Bibhuti Barik:

A tourist interpretation centre is under construction near the Khandagiri-Udayagiri caves, to showcase the tourism potential of the golden triangle, which includes Konark, Puri, Bhubaneswar and other tourist places around the capital.

The centre will have a crafts village, a food court with an array of Orissa cuisine, a public convenience centre, a souvenir centre, an entertainment centre with audio-visual facility, and a parking space.

It will serve as a cultural hub and help the tourists to get information on the tourist spots of the state.

… “The interpretation centre, which will be ready within three months, will help to attract tourists to the site. In future, it will also serve as a one-stop shop for tourists visiting Orissa. The centre, which is under construction near the Khandagiri-Udayagiri caves, will be like the other state tourist interpretation centers in Rajasthan, Haryana or Delhi,’’ the tourism director added.

… Anil Tripathy, executive engineer of the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation Limited (OTDC), who is in charge of the construction of the centre, said “the parking space will help in accommodating 50 buses at a time and the open-air theatre will have seating arrangements for 300 people. There will also be six halls for use on occasions.’’

“The 5,000 square metre built up area of the centre can also be used to organise cultural events like Kharavela Mahotsav, the annual extravaganza near the Khandagiri-Udayagiri caves. The inner and outer circles of the structure with wide balconies have beautiful sandstone pillars that have been built by artisans at the site. The walls of the centre are also made of matching water-proof laterite stones,’’ Tripathy added.

The tourist interpretation centre, which is estimated at a budget of Rs 61.83 lakh, is part of a Rs 296.03 lakh central government project for the development of Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves.